It's a story everyone else seems to have forgotten about
that. Newsy has been following since last year, mont
before a majority of the country would vote by mail
Because of the pandemic, dozens of blue USPS collection
boxes just disappeared from communities without notice
Ultimately, the postal service. But the practice on
hold until after the election and said kind of nothing
to see here. But our Maritsa Ge
the story in Montana, wanted to know why they were
removed. She stumbled upon some serious gaps and joins
us live tonight from Missoula Montana Maritsa, what'
you find? Good evening to you, Chance. It comes down to
something known as a density test basically. It's a
fancy way of saying they count the mail that goes
through each box and if a certain box doesn't receive
enough mail, they might remove it or relocate it. But
going through this USPS data, we found a whole lot of
removed boxes across the country that didn't receive
those tests. Tara Wantulok star
Bozeman Montana market in the 1990s. Her husband's
Grandpa opened in 1969. And as long as she's known this
place, a blue USPS collection box stood out front. Just
one day went out to go use it. It was gone. So it just
disappeared and had no clue that it was being taken
away. It's the same story in front of a mail facility
at Montana State University, you can still see remnants
of protest signs put up when it was removed. Just on
that corner right there and across town at the Gallatin
County administrative building. mean why why would it
be taken You know why all of a sudden is it just gone
It houses the treasurer motor vehicles, elections, it
was being used. These boxes vanished months before a
majority of the state would vote by mail in the 2020
election. It's secure and that' why it makes a good a
place to deposit your ballots. A postal carrier in
bozeman reached out to us saying these boxes should be
put back. We depend upon the postal service Montana. U.S
Senator Jon Tester first sounded the alarm on post
office box removals. I think the big thing is all
people want is they want dependable mail service,
that's it and make it as user friendly as you possibl
can. So he fired off a letter to Postmaster General
Louis DeJoy last month requesti the boxes be put back
and questioning the timing of how they decided on
removals in a college town. The USPS says it's all
routine. They use density test to measure how much mail
goes through a box, basically a fancy way of saying
they count the mail. The policy says if a box receives
fewer than 25 pieces of mail a day, it should be
reviewed for removal or relocation. But there are some
exceptions to that. Like if it's next to municipal and
judicial buildings and other public facilities, think a
college campus or a county building. This Freedom o
Information act request asked for the density test
information that determined whi boxes got stand for
removal. In 2020 the spreadsheet delivered new
questions. This is where one of those blue collection
boxes once stood. Now. We don't know exactly how much
mail went through this box because USPS data shows no
density test was done on it. But you can see this is a
bustling corner next to a university. The bozeman boxes
and senator tester's letter R four out of more than
1300 removed nationwide last year with 46 Montana boxes
on the list out of those 46 only to show density tests
done. It wasn't until you had asked for the uh the
issues that revolve around uh destiny That we were able
to get that density information. They weren't going
give it when we told them it was FOIA'd through the
Freedom of Information Act than they presented it.
Newsy found the same trend in other pockets of the
country. Take Minnesota. Not on of the 33 boxes taken
in 2020 had undergone full density tests. The two years
prior We found the same thing for all 20 boxes. The
USPS removed in South Dakota, we discovered major gap
in new york pennsylvania and Virginia and nearly all
Los Angeles san Francisco and austin texas boxes are
missing numbers and this is just a snapshot, why would
you eliminate that extra service without, you know,
without testing at all to see whether or not it should
go and then just to have it disappeared laced
throughout the document lines that look like this with
zeros across all four density test dates and every
single one we looked up as a collection box in front of
a post office. So Newsy went back to the USPS asking
why the response hasn't changed in more than a year And
doesn't answer specific questio about this data. When
pushed on what we found, a spokesperson said quot
Unfortunately I've already given you all the
information I'm able to provide. Also the density test
policy says if a box will be removed a notice needs to
go up 30 days before letting customers know that did
happen here. Well I do have a postal carrier that come
in daily and I remember when it first happened, I asked
them, I said what happened She said I had no clue. It
was even gone. I've been suspicious from the beginn
that these were had there was a different agenda behind
the removal of these boxes. I have received no
information that reduces my suspicion and I think that
in the end those boxes need to be put back in place.
But I think that you've really hit on something that
goes to a broader national um issue here and that is
that first class mail service is continuing to slow
down And for people like Terra and Jennifer who rely on
that mail. I think it's a service to the public. 100%.
It would be very, very nice and it would be great to
have a bath. Think it's appropriate for to be outside
of a public building or people frequent. They just want
to see their blue boxes back so they can get back to
delivering in their own jobs. As we mentioned, we asked
for more comments from the U.S.P.S. On this, as did
Senator Jon tester. His office says they have not yet
received a response to that letter they wrote, but of
course we'll keep tracking this.