By Gus Saltonstall
A blue, United States Postal Service mailbox on the northeast corner of West End Avenue and West 79th Street disappeared in recent months, leaving many people without a nearby option to send mail out.
When asked about the reason for the removal and whether other mailboxes in the neighborhood have suffered the same fate, a USPS spokesperson didn’t answer specifically about the 79th Street box, but did say that the Post Office has been replacing some collection boxes with better-security models, and removing others “entirely” in low-use areas.
“The Postal Service has been for the past several years replacing collection boxes with high security ones to make access to their contents more difficult for criminals,” the USPS spokesperson told the Rag in an email. “In locations where mail density is very low, collection boxes may be removed entirely.”
The answer was similar to the one New York City Councilmember Gale Brewer received after she wrote to Manhattan Postmaster Wanda Diaz about the loss of the West 79th Street box.
“I write on behalf of constituents who have expressed concern regarding the removal of the USPS mailbox at West 79th Street and West End Avenue,” Brewer wrote in a letter to Diaz. “Residents are upset because they have been using the mailbox on 79th Street and West End Avenue for many years and the next closest mailbox is not convenient, especially for older adults.”
“I urge you to replace the mailbox at this location,” she added.
The next nearest mailbox to West 79th Street is at 519 West End Avenue, six blocks away on West 85th Street, according to Brewer’s office.
A spokesperson from the United States Postal Service also responded to Brewer’s letter this past week, and it was not good news for residents hoping the mailbox would be returning.
“Unfortunately, collection mailboxes have been removed due to theft/vandalism,” USPS said. “At this time, in order to keep the mail of the community secure, there are no plans to replace these mailboxes.”
“The letterbox was taken away, while the useless green box was left standing,” a resident of West 79th Street wrote to Brewer’s office.
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Isn’t there a mailbox at the NE corner of 79th & Bdwy? I would think that it wouldn’t be that hard to find a way to get something mailed without a mailbox less than 5 blocks from that location.
Boris, you would think. But no, We’ve been deprived of a convenient location to drop mail. I’m at 79th and Riverside. I’m also elderly with limited mobility and just to walk uphill get to West End requires effort. e’re only asking for what we’ve been deprived of.
I always put my outgoing mail standing up in my mailbox for the mailman to take and have never had any problems. I’m at 80 and WEA so probably have the same carrier.
I understand the mobility issue, but I think there are ways to get something mailed that don’t involve making it a long hike. Friends, neighbors, doormen, and others can help in that effort. Perhaps accumulate your mailings and make it a weekly thing. As far as being deprived of a convenient location, I don’t know of anyone who decided where to live based on its distance from a mailbox.
They should be able to leave mail in the building and have it picked up by the carrier.
The mailbox previously on the NE corner of 79th and Broadway was moved to the middle of the block, between 79th and 80th, a while ago. Not as convenient when I need to mail something before getting on the subway, but not really that far. There’s also a mailbox on the SE corner of Broadway and 78th.
USPS removed a mailbox on West End Ave & 72nd Street a couple of years ago. They never put it back!
This is incorrect. There is a mailbox on the northwest corner of 72 and WEA
My bad. Meant West End Ave & 70th Street. They removed the mailbox several years ago & never replaced.
There is a mailbox on the northeast corner of 81st and West End.
Your item about the mailbox being taken away from 79th and West End is very good because I’ve been missing it as well but there is an error. They claim the nearest boxes on 85th Street and West End Avenue but there’s one right on 81st Street. So basically it’s only two blocks away. Just a correction
This is all part of the Trump administrations attack on the USPS to remove as many mailboxes as possible to make it harder for people to vote by mail and delay mailings.
Joe: hard to believe that! You are joking??
This is quite hilarious. For those of you missing the joke, numerous mainstream media outlets, including The NY Times, did indeed (falsely) accuse Trump of removing mailboxes in late 2020 as a means of suppressing mail-in voting and thereby stealing the election. These stories were actually published, and were quite prevalent.
If that were true, they wouldn’t be wasting their efforts on Manhattan.
Sadly, I’m guessing this isn’t sarcasm. This article, now corrected, asserts that people have to walk 500 more feet. Now, to be fair, this is only one way. Residents will have to walk 1000 feet more now.
C’mon…having had several things go “missing” I have mailed in mailboxes, it is a result of the theft and vandalism. Blaming Trump for this has no value here.
Trump left office in 2021
He appointed Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General in 2020. DeJoy had no previous experience working in USPS. There is no fixed term for this position.
And we’re still paying his tax hikes
He actually cut taxes.
Are you saying that Trump hiked taxes?
For many New Yorkers, the next effect was an increase in taxes. The cap on deductions for state and local taxes and mortgage interest means that many folks in states with high income tax rates end up paying more. When you consider that such states are almost entirely blue states that Trump lost in 2016, it’s a bit hard to think that this was an unintended side effect.
Perhaps those blue states should cut their taxes! Exactly what are you getting for your 12.7% NY state taxes that residents of tax-free states aren’t getting?
Hmm…Punishingly High State Taxes? When I read this, a long ago advertising slogan for Toyota came to mind:
“You asked for it? You got it!”
I have increasingly been mailing items at the PO on 83rd, thinking it was more secure, and faster. However, most of my holiday cards, mailed from that PO never got to their recipients. And several cards had holiday gift checks that were stolen, and my checking account was compromised. Since then, a few items have never reached their destination mailed from the box outside that PO. Have always bee a fan of USPS, but I am afraid it cannot be trusted anymore.
about 6 years ago i mailed a holiday card to an Elmhurst address, with check enclosed ,from inside UWS PO. it never reached its destination and some weeks later i learned that fraudulent checks had been created on my account (easily ordered from check supply companies) with full magnetic encoding. Thieves in possession of stolen atm cards and passwords were able to deposit checks at banks located in FL and GA, withdrawing as much of the courtesy funds as they were able. The individual dollar amounts were not large, but added up. about 70 such checks cleared before i heard from the fraud unit of one of those banks.
i believe that the theft was carried out by postal employees…and because i want to think the best of most “regular” postal workers, many of whom i have known for years, i think it is likely that the perpetrators were among the many seasonal workers that USPS brings on ahead of christmas.
this occurrence has haunted me ever since — it took me many months and constant follow-up with my own bank to recover the full amount, even though i reported the problem on the same day. i felt that my bank would not have made me whole had i not been persistent. i imagined the thieves self-righteously believing that theirs were victimless crimes because the account holders would get reimbursed eventually. Lastly, i have been conscious ever since of how fortunate i am/was to be able to meet my other obligations in spite of the sudden reduction in my bank balance. It is far more likely that a person thus victimized would have had difficulty paying rent, mortgage, car or loan balances.
I totally agree! I went in person to the P.O. on Columbus in the 60’s and sent a ‘registered’ (by the post office letter to a friend in the UK baring her new credit card from Citibank…… It never arrived? What do they do with these things.. Very worrying ..? … I’d sent the letter from the mail box inside the Post Office. ?
Meanwhile, the credit card that never arrived via the post office was not hacked .. it just didn’t show up .. The whole system needs to be reviewed and changed. The mostly elderly staff sit there and keep you waiting forever as they chat ceaselessly with their friends behind the counter!! …! I’m not kidding!
If you took the trouble to go to the post office, why not drop the mail inside where it’s more secure?
If the thefts are done by some of the postal workers themselves, it wouldn’t matter if the letters were put inside the post office or not.
But the cost of mailing has continued to go up! It’s all because Trump appointed Louis DeJoy as postmaster-general. Service has declined NATIONALLY.
Usps service was horrible for the last 30 years.
Not to defend T, but the price will always go up as USPS is used less and less in the electronic age, independent of these issues.
If a mailbox at 79th Street and West End Avenue in New York City is considered to be under used and low traffic, what must it be like for residents in small towns and cities across America? I can’t really imagine this mailbox removed in Manhattan was under used.
Excellent point.
The mailbox on 94th & Broadway has disappeared as well
I was going to post that too. I can’t imagine it was underused – it’s right near the subway entrance so very convenient to just drop off anything on the way to work. There is one on the NW corner of West End and 94th, which isn’t as convenient (and also 94th b/t WEA and Riverside has all sorts of issues with drug addicts/mentally ill so I would think leaving the one on Broadway would be better.
The mailbox that was at the northeast corner of 86th and Broadway was also removed and never replaced. Additionally, several garbage cans have been removed from the area and never put back: both the southwest and northwest corners of 87th and Amsterdam Avenue. They should be replaced.
A couple of months ago, a number of mailboxes were removed in Morningside Heights-West Harlem. The mailbox that used to be in front of the PO on West 125th Street was also removed. Of note, a half block away, on the corner of Mon ringside Avenue and West 125th, a mail box remains, though there are no longer mail boxes in the nearby area. This mail box is in front of St Joseph’s Church. Perhaps the USPS assumes a higher authority is ensuring that no one would vandalize a holy mail box. Makes no sense to me. Like so much these days, we are subject to tyranny of the minority, and the absence of seeking a solution.. A small number of people try to steal checks from mail boxes so the mail boxes are removed. A small number of people shop lift in stores so now shoppers can gaze at the items they want through a plexiglass door.
For checks, let your bank mail them.
Checks mailed in this manner have also been stolen.
I did this for the first time last month. Simply amazing. Oddly enough, it’s also free (for me at least, Citibank), yet wiring money costs like $35.
My rent check was stolen from the mailbox at 79th and Amsterdam (mailbox with only a small slot for envelopes). Thief whitewashed the payee and the check was cashed in Tennessee. When I filed the police report, they said it happens very often. No more mailing checks!
STOP mailing checks in these mailboxes! Walk them into the post office. If you are a victim of check washing/mailbox fishing, notify your local precinct and uspis.gov
“At this time, in order to keep the mail of the community secure, there are no plans to replace these mailboxes.”
So they keep the mail secure by not having mail?
Can someone reach out to Kirsten Gillibrand — the postal service will listen to a Senator
I used that mailbox for 10 years. It was often filled to capacity, and couldn’t fit another letter in there. It’s malarkey that the box was underutilized.
Is Senator Gillibrand still alive? I hadn’t noticed
You have a right to enter any building with a collection box in its lobby and mail your letters there, which is a much safer option anyway. Just tell the doorman what you are doing.
Mailboxes have been disappearing for years – permanently. There was nothing low volume or high security risk about the ones on Broadway that have disappeared. It seems USPS just wants to make fewer stops.
The useless green box is where part loads of a mail carriers route are dropped. It’s not useless if you want your lands end catalogue delivered.
I tried to report glue in the mail slot of 2 different blue boxes near 68th/Bway post office, figuring it was related to phishing efforts to steal mail. The p.o. asked what I expected them to do about it, and “customer service” said they had no idea what to do. Also, they told a friend they had lots of prepaid donation envelopes to charities at Christmas they didn’t have staff to deliver. There are rarely more than 2 employees taking customers. Biden has apparently appointed 2 more people to the board that can finally fire Trump’s DeJoy-all of these awful changes are since he destroyed the postal system, not electronic mailing
I go to work early in the morning, walking down WEA, on a number of occasions over the years I have seen dog walkers drop their little plastic bags in the mailboxes rather than the waste basket. (these are *not* children doing it). Either they are early onset dementia patients out walking around, or they think it is funny. I have long stopped using corner mailboxes because of that. I note however many apartment buildings have mailboxes, has anyone ever asked a doorman if they could drop their mail there? Overall, I sympathize with the post office’s dilemma, but I can see why trying to keep corner mailboxes in this town is futile.
The mailbox on West End Ave and 87th ( in front of the church – south east corner) street has been gone for months.
Write Nadler, on paper, not Brewer about things USPS.
Pay your bills online and stop writing checks.
Some times there are charges for online or over the phone payments. ConEd charges for some forms of online payments.
Verizon charges for paying over the phone, but not for online payments.
Removed one at 108 and Amsterdam a few years ago, it felt so strange that I wrote a poem about it:
https://www.westsiderag.com/2022/05/02/west-side-rag-poetry-corner-mailbox-blues
One thing I have never seen in my entire life is a map showing the location of all mailboxes in a neighborhood.
Have you tried Google? I hear it’s good for stuff like this. 🙂
https://www.mailboxmap.com/mailboxes/map?q=10023
Ridiculous. Cave in to theives?
Let’s remove all mailboxes so no mail can be stolen.
Let’s close the roads to prevent drunk driving.
Seriously, it’s 2024. Someone must be smart enough to design a mailbox that allows mail in and and not out without a key.
And so what if the mail pick up driver makes 30 mailbox stops or 31 mailbox stops?
How about one big well guarded mailbox on each side of town?
C,mon. Find a sensible solution.
A few years ago, I reached my hand into the slot of the local mailbox, and discovered a sticky substance in its superstructure. From that point on, I have walked to the 95th Street Post Office local office and placed my mail in the slot inside the post office. Even the “new, improved design” are non theft-proof. Mail carriers have told me that what I do is the only safe way to minimize the likelihood of my mail being stolen. Face it, the local boxes are susceptible to criminal behavior. Bottom line, I consider all of the street boxes useless.
There is a mailbox on the northeast corner of 81st and West End,, just FYI. I am not disputing that they should bring the one back to 79th Street though.
Something to consider here. A few years back during the Trump administration there was a changing of the guard at the United States postal service. I feel that they are nefarious things going on now like they were then. New York City is a very Democratic City. Elections are coming and this could be a way to curtail mail in votes. Something to give a little thought to.
They’ve been removing mailboxes for years!! Wake up Gail.
That’s the feds, but NYC has removed much needed garbage cans on west end and Riverside, the remaining ones are constantly over-filled. Rats love that, btw…
I don’t think this is a problem— the elderly can just jump on their bikes and mail whatever they like on their way to brunch in Chelsea
They also removed the mailbox at Broadway and 86th, much to my dismay.
around CPS area waste containers AND
mailboxes have been removed
Wonder why ? I was told by one doorman
for security reason. ??
But folks,
There’s another mailbox on West End Ave at 77th at, right by the Church
There’s a mailbox on West End Ave and 77th at in front of the Church
There is a mailbox on the northeast corner of 77th and West End Avenue. That’s two blocks away.
Our mailbox @ 61st & West End also gone as is newspaper box. Food garbage, dog poop bags seen thrown in each; trash basket just feet away. Now locked compost container there. with QR Code to scan or go to app to open. Means lazy pigs 🐽 in nabe can still use as dump.
I am still crying and ripping my coal sack dress to shreds because my favorite USPS Box at 73rd St and WEA was heartlessly ripped off its moors like 5 years ago. OOh the agony!
And, yes, I know there is one at 72nd St., but that’s a different school district!
We (my building) just installed a fairly inexpensive outgoing mailbox so residents don’t even have to leave the building. Waiting on USPS to install their own lock. This all happened after a neighbor had a mailed checked taken from the outdoor drop box, washed and cashed (took many months, but eventually the bank returned the fraud dollars removed from his account).