COLORADO, USA — In the midst of ongoing staffing and mail delivery issues for post offices in Colorado's high country, they're putting out the "Help Wanted" sign to attract more mail carriers.
The most urgent jobs to be filled are letter carriers, clerks and labor custodians. Carrier positions range between $19 - $20 an hour. First-day perks include immediate health benefits, paid holidays, paid leave, life insurance and 401K matching up to 5%.
In a news release, the post office said, "Our employees are our greatest asset, and we are investing in our new personnel by providing robust training and on-the-job support."
The high-country post offices participating in the job fair on April 20 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. include:
- Buena Vista Post Office, 110 Brookdale Ave., 81211
- Crested Butte Post Office, 217 Elk Ave. 81224
- Dillon Post Office, 500 Lake Dillon Dr., 80435
- Durango Post Office, 222 W. 8th St., 81301
- Edwards Post Office: 105 Edwards Village Blvd. Unit A101, 81632
- Golden Post Office: 1100 Johnson Rd., 80401
- Steamboat Springs Post Office: 200 Lincoln Ave., 80487
- Vail Post Office: 1300 N. Frontage Rd. W., 81657
In the foothills, the Golden Post Office is hiring career carrier positions. The post office at 1100 Johnson Road in Golden is also holding a job fair Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Applications are also accepted online.
This is the second recruiting effort by the USPS in Colorado this year. Another job fair was held in February for 600 available positions in Jefferson and Adams counties.
Meanwhile, mountain community leaders said the mail situation has improved from several months ago.
"Mainly what we really tried to do was assist them by providing affordable housing, or temporary housing, which -- they took us up on a couple offers," said Philip Gonshak, interim county manager for Summit County. "Now we have two, as of today, USPS employees taking us up on affordable housing."
Housing, Gonshak said, has been a top priority for county, state and federal employees – like postal workers.
"It is absolutely mission critical to try and get employees affordable housing so we can fill some absolutely necessary and critical vacancies, not just at the post office but here in the county as well and the towns that are within it," he said.
A spokesperson said USPS has replaced highway contractors it lost this past winter, deployed staff from surrounding communities and hired some new staff in mountain towns
While USPS said service has stabilized, and there are no current backlogs, they still aren't fully staffed and are still looking to hire.
"We still don’t have any real communication from the postal service, which is frustrating, but anecdotally, I can say that the phone calls and emails to town hall have been greatly reduced," said Ryan Hyland, town manager for the town of Silverthorne.
"There are just some big structural issues that need to be addressed if we're going to see the level of service that mountain communities deserve that’s on par with the rest of the country," he said.
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