Inflation may be giving people some trepidation every time they go to the grocery store, but area folks heading to the Post Office to renew their post office box may want to prepare themselves for some outright sticker shock.
That is because the cost of a post office box in Mount Airy and in Toast are doubling this year — even nearly tripling in some cases.
Phillip Easter, an officer with the Renfro Masonic Lodge, said that was his reaction.
“Our box is $116,” he said. “I went in and found a note saying our box payment comes due at the end of May….it’s going from $116 to $232.”
While that might not seem like a lot of money in pure dollars, he said it still hurts, particularly when you consider the percentage mark-up.
“We’re a non-profit. Every year I have to make a financial budget, I have to carry it in, read it, and it’s approved it,” he said of the process of spending the lodge’s limited funds.
“I get that other things are going up, I’m seeing that. Power, water, everything has gone up 10, 15, 20%. I understand that, but when you walk up and get a paper out of the box and there’s a 100% mark up, that’s what got me. That was a gut punch.”
He said postal officials really didn’t seem all that interested in explaining why the price was going up, either. After several attempts at getting someone to talk to about the rate hikes, Easter said he finally found a clerk at the local post office who would listen to him.
Still, she had no answers, according to Easter, other than to say ultimately the fault lay with “Mr. Biden.”
Another box holder, who rents a small box in Toast, said he was recently notified his annual box rate was nearly tripling, from $56 to $156.
What is even more maddening to Easter, he said, is the fact that it seems, at least in this region, to be affecting only Mount Airy and Toast. Costs for boxes in Dobson, Pilot Mountain, and across the border in Cana, Virginia, and Ararat, Virginia, are remaining the same.
Postal officials don’t seem eager to discuss the local increases. Locally, no one would answer attempts to gather more information. The only postal official who would respond to queries was Philip Bogenberger, who works in Charlotte. He would only respond to email questions, and even then he would not address specifically the rate hikes in Mount Airy and Toast.
“The price of a P.O. Box increases periodically to offset operational costs, and depends on the box’s size, payment period and whether its in a ‘competitive’ or ‘market dominant’ location. Boxes range from extra-large, which can accommodate multiple packages, to extra-small for letter mail and magazines. In between, there are small, medium and large boxes depending on what type of mail customers expect, how often they check it and daily volume. Payment options include a three-, six- and 12-month fee schedule,” was all he would say.
When queried further regarding why some boxes were doubling in price, how much notice patrons were given about the steep increases, or if non-profits could get any sort of discount, he replied simply “Please use the statement I provided as official comment from the Postal Service.”
Bogenberger did not return additional emails sent with further questions.
For his part, Easter thinks the size hikes, and the lack of answers regarding them, are what steam him.
“One hundred-percent mark-up, I just don’t…to me that’s price gauging. Everybody around us stayed the same, but Mount Airy and Toast had a 100% mark up. We’re paying for being Mayberry,” he said, believing the popularity of the city and demand for boxes is allowing the local rate hikes.
For now, he said the Masonic Lodge will stay with a post office box, but only for a limited time.
“Monday night, we decided we’re going to renew it for another six months, but we’re in the process of putting some type of reception box at the lodge the postman can put our mail in,” he said. Once that is up and operating, he said the lodge likely will not renew its box at the post office — nor will associated groups and lodges that share the building with the Renfro Lodge.
“Four different groups may put four different outside boxes there,” he said. “They’re free.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com