The "Postal Service Clusterbox Responsibility Act" mandates the Postal Service to maintain cluster box units they've historically maintained for at least 20 years, establishes a process for owners to designate their units as "covered," and creates a fund to cover maintenance costs.
Joaquin Castro
Representative
TX-20
The Postal Service Clusterbox Responsibility Act requires the Postal Service to maintain cluster box units that it has primarily maintained for at least 20 years, provided they are owned by a non-public entity. This includes repairs, replacements, and adding mailboxes when necessary. The Act establishes a process for owners to apply for "covered" status and outlines the responsibilities and limitations of the Postal Service's maintenance obligations, as well as establishing a fund to cover the costs.
Mail Call: New Bill Makes USPS Responsible for Maintaining Certain Privately-Owned Cluster Mailboxes After 20 Years
This legislation, the "Postal Service Clusterbox Responsibility Act," shifts the responsibility for maintaining certain community mailboxes, known as cluster box units (CBUs), onto the U.S. Postal Service. Specifically, it targets CBUs located on private property (like in apartment complexes or housing developments) that the USPS has already been maintaining for at least the last 20 years. The bill sets up a formal process for property owners to get their CBUs officially designated as "covered" and establishes a dedicated fund to pay for this upkeep.
Your Mailbox Might Get a New Caretaker
So, what does this actually mean? If you live somewhere with a CBU that the mail carrier has unofficially fixed or managed for decades, this bill aims to formalize that arrangement. Property owners (referred to as "covered persons") can apply to the USPS to have their CBU designated as "covered." They'll need to show proof of the 20-year maintenance history by the USPS and grant written permission for the Postal Service to continue the upkeep. The USPS then has one month to investigate and decide. If approved, the USPS becomes officially responsible for repairs, replacements, and even adding new mail slots if needed (Section 2).
What's Covered, and Who Pays?
While the USPS takes on maintenance for these specific, long-serviced CBUs, there are limits. The bill clarifies the Postal Service won't be on the hook for fixing damage caused intentionally by residents, dealing with unauthorized modifications someone else made, or repairing the surrounding building structure (Section 2). Think of it like this: if a storm damages the CBU, USPS might fix it under this Act. If someone spray-paints graffiti on it, that's likely still the property owner's problem unless the USPS can identify and seek reimbursement from the person responsible – something the bill allows them to do. This doesn't stop owners from doing their own maintenance if they prefer.
Funding the Fixes
To handle these new duties, the bill establishes a "Cluster Box Unit Maintenance Fund" within the U.S. Treasury (Section 2). Money appropriated for the Postal Service to carry out this act will go into this fund. This means taxpayer dollars could potentially support the maintenance of these specific, privately-owned-but-historically-USPS-maintained mailboxes. The Postal Service is also given 180 days from the Act's enactment to issue detailed regulations on how all of this will work in practice, hopefully clarifying gray areas like proving a 20-year maintenance history or defining exactly what repairs are deemed "necessary" for the CBU's function.