SPOKANE, Wash. – For months, neighbors on East 6th Avenue were wondering where to get their mail.
The typical door-to-door mail carrier were nowhere to be seen, until Linda Scott tracked one down a few blocks away.
The mail carrier caught her up to speed – none of the postal workers wanted to walk the three-block stretch on East 6th after years of problems with one residents’ dogs.
“Well, was it my house? And they said, ‘No,'” Scott said. “Because I have three big dogs, you know?”
Neighbors had to pick up their mail at a local post office hub at 5511 E. Alki Ave. about three miles away; this went on for three months. Until last Thursday when Scott’s front curb started playing host to the neighborhood’s communal mailbox.
“It’s better than traveling,” Scott said. “All I’m thinking though is now I’m going to have to keep the snow off of there, you know, so they can get to their mailboxes.”
The communal mailboxes are located in a safe central location, according to USPS spokesperson Kimberly Frum. It’s near the corner of Altamont and East 6th. The dogs in question – USPS did not say exactly which house – have charged mail carrier multiple times over the last several years, according to Frum.
“We notified the dog owners multiple times over the last few years to comply with the request to restrain their dogs, even signing agreements to do so. However, problems continue and after an incident involving three loose dogs in late June, the decision was made to suspend mail delivery to the neighborhood,” Frum wrote NonStop Local in an email. “Fortunately, our carrier is ok. But that is not always the case. Carriers nationwide have sustained serious injuries as a result of a dog attack. Some have even been fatal.”
USPS reported 108 dog bites in Washington alone for the 2023 calendar year.
Neighbors looking for their new mail key can pick it up at the local post office hub next time they get their mail. Frum expects the whole neighborhood to have their keys by the end of the week.
Mail service to the communal mailbox begins Tuesday.
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