Residents of Ward are banding together to try to keep the doors of their post office open as the U.S. Postal Service eyes thousands of possible closures across the country.
Ward’s is one of the 4,273 post offices in the United States — and 71 in Colorado — being studied for possible closure. The USPS, which operates entirely on revenue, lost $8 billion last year and has seen a 20 percent decline in mailing volume over the last five years.
Post offices were chosen for study based partly on low activity. But Ward residents say their small post office serves as a lifeline for the isolated mining town.
“Until you spend a winter up here, it’s hard to understand how cut off we are,” said David Grimm, a Ward Town Council member. “In bad weather we are very isolated, and the post office is how we communicate with the outside world.”
Should the Ward post office close, the estimated 400 customers who use it would be forced to head to Jamestown or Nederland, which can be an hour-long round trip even for those who have cars.
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