Brookline's Mailboxes Start To Disappear As USPS Reviews Use

BROOKLINE, MA — During the weekend crews came through Brookline — as well as towns and cities across Massachusetts —and started removing blue United States Postal Service collection boxes.

On Saturday morning, Colin Moore said he spotted a truck filled with the recognizable blue boxes parked on Washington Street not far from the Driscoll School.

The move comes as Massachusetts's attorney general is considering filing a lawsuit to stop what critics have called the Trump administration's attempted teardown of the U.S. Postal Service ahead of mail-in voting for the presidential election. Several politicians have accused the postmaster general of helping Trump with efforts to stall mail-in voting, and Trump has said he opposes funding that would allow for more ballots to be cast by mail.

Also Read: Brookline Sends Wrong Mail-In Ballots Ahead Of Primary

The agency has said it won't be able to guarantee ballots will arrive in time to be counted for the November election. One local postal worker working late Monday told Patch he was already overworked sorting mail amid pandemic and didn't see how the postal service had enough manpower to handle the mail-in ballots.

After trucks were seen hauling mailboxes away, and criticism surfaced that it could be undermining upcoming elections, the United States Postal Service said it would stop removing the boxes —for now.

A spokesperson from the agency told Patch that each year the Postal Service has to address declining mail volume. In this case, the removal was based on "density testing," or boxes that are either redundant or seldom used, USPS spokesperson Steve Doherty told Patch.

But it didn't come out of the blue, he stressed.

"Boxes are identified for potential removal and notices are placed on boxes to give customers an opportunity to comment before the removal decision is made," he said.

And not all blue collection bins are being removed for good. Some boxes across the state are being upgraded to a newer, high security version, he said.

It's not clear how many boxes are up for removal and how many are to be swapped out.

"This process is one of the many ways the Postal Services makes adjustments to our infrastructure to match our resources to declining mail volumes," said Doherty. "Given the recent customer concerns the Postal Service will postpone removing boxes for a period of 90 days while we evaluate our customers’ concerns."

Read more:

• NJ Congressman Calls For Investigation Amid Trump's USPS Comments..
• With MA Mail-In Ballots Threatened, State Mulls Suing ...
• Delayed Election Results? Maybe, But Not Because Of Fraud ...
• Brookline Sends Wrong Mail-In Ballots Ahead Of Primary

Got a tip? Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a press release you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how to post a press release, a column, event or opinion piece.