DOVER, DE- Residents at Noble`s Pond, a senior citizen development, have gone nearly a month without home mail delivery due to a disagreement between the community’s developer and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
About four weeks ago, residents received a letter in their mailboxes notifying them that mail would no longer be delivered to their homes. Instead, they were instructed to pick up their mail at the local post office until further notice.
Eric Maldonado, who has lived in the development for a few months, said this letter, with its sudden change of plans, caught him by surprise.
"We were getting mail up until about 4 weeks ago or somewhere around there—there wasn’t a problem. All of a sudden, boom—now the post office doesn’t want to deliver here."
The USPS is refusing to deliver mail to this new section of the community until cluster mailboxes are installed, as required by postal regulations. Until then, residents must travel to the post office, which is about 12 miles away.
Rocco Panobinco, a resident of this 55-plus residential development, expressed frustration over the situation, noting how difficult and inconvenient it is for older residents to have to travel to the post office daily for their important mail.
"I don’t want to drive 12 miles to the post office, you know—my wife does not drive. What if I am unable to drive there—who’s going to deliver the mail here?"
Neighbors tell us that around 25 residents are not currently receiving mail to their homes. While they acknowledge that this is only a small percentage of the Nobles Pond community, they emphasize that this disagreement between the developers and the post office has placed a significant burden on these residents.
Panobinco, who is new to this residential community, says he was not informed about any of these issues before moving into the development and feels disappointed by the mail inconvenience.
"I can tell people thinking about buying a home here—think twice—and inquire about this issue—and postpone the purchase of the home in this community."
In the meantime, the affected residents in this community have been trying to find workarounds to get the essential mail they rely on daily.
"My medical stuff—I have it shipped to my daughter’s house because I know I’ll get it there—and I go and pick it up in Staten Island—so it’s kind of been a major inconvenience here."
Neighbors have reported that since the post office doesn’t recognize their address, they are also experiencing issues with other delivery services.
The Noble`s Pond community is hoping this disagreement between the developers and the U.S. Postal Service will be resolved soon, and they wish to ensure that, in whatever way necessary—whether through cluster boxes or otherwise—they will be able to get their mail delivered to their homes again.
