COLORADO CITY — Residents of Colorado City have to drive 50 miles round-trip to the Pueblo Main Post Office on Fortino Street just to get their mail.
Ron Foss lives in Colorado City and made the trip out to Pueblo this afternoon.
“It’s very inconvenient, it's not a short drive. With oil prices and gas prices the way they are it's not cheap,” said Foss.
This is the third time since 2019 that this has happened.
Colorado City had a steady postmaster for at least a decade, but he left a few years ago. Since then, they have had three postmasters and multiple building changes.
The most recent post-master quit after just one month in the position. Terry Kraus, the owner of the local newspaper, the Greenhorn Valley View, says this is what triggered the current closure.
Kraus says the postmasters all left due to issues working with the U.S. Postal Service, so he thinks this is a bigger issue.
“We feel like the fault is at the district level of the United States Postal Service,” said Kraus.
The problem has caused an issue for members of the community. Kraus says people in the area are frustrated at this being a common occurrence and want solutions.
“It should be just a right for everyone to get good mail service,” said Kraus.
Vulnerable members of the community are especially disadvantaged. The area is made up of an older demographic, and seniors are impacted by this commute.
For those who can’t get down to Pueblo easily, a solution was needed. Operational Transportation Manager of the SRDA, George Chintala says that a service could benefit this group.
“Being able to have the access to get to town to get to the post office themselves will help a lot,” said Chintala.
The SRDA created a temporary solution that could help. A new shuttle service will begin this Saturday or next Saturday. It will pick people up from the Colorado City Swimming Pool at 10:00 am, go down to Pueblo, and return around noon.
They already had a shuttle on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays available through applications for other resources and by calling their drivers, so Chintala says they felt that they could help.
The service only has ten spaces per day, so it will be first-come-first-serve.
This is a temporary solution until things are solved at the post office in Colorado City. Ross is hoping this can be done soon.
“We'd just like to have something in Colorado City that we can rely on,” said Ross.
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