Where do Gearhart's packages go — 'I never know' - The Astorian

Where do Gearhart’s packages go — ‘I never know’

Published 5:56 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Some Gearhart residents get their mail in Seaside, some not at all

The mailing issues that The Astorian has been covering for the past month in Clatsop County have not gone away. In fact, more are coming to light. What at first seemed like an issue of delayed or non-existent mail service in downtown Astoria, has also been reported in Warrenton, Gearhart and Seaside. People are continuing to come forward with stories.

Officials, including US. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Oregon State Rep. Cyrus Javadi, are pressing to find a solution. But so far, there seem to be more questions than answers.

A problem in Gearhart

On Oct. 9, Gearhart City Councilor Dana Gould shared a letter she had sent to the officials named above with The Astorian. In the letter, she asked for help in solving mail issues that the city of Gearhart is dealing with. About 300 residents are going unserved by the U.S. Postal Service, she said. It is having compounding effects on many members of the community.

“Our situation is negatively affecting those with disabilities, those with businesses, those who wish to establish wills and trusts, and those who rely on USPS for delivery of election material and medications,” said Gould in a follow-up interview.

She said one of the issues is that the post office only delivers mail to privately owned mailboxes in a small area of Gearhart, which only encompasses slightly less than half of the city’s residences. The other half of the city relies on postal boxes located within the city’s post office or goes unserved entirely.

The Gearhart Post Office used to be run by a private contractor; however, as of February, the contractor cancelled the agreement with the USPS. Since then, the city hasn’t been able to secure a new contractor to run the post office. Because of this, Gearhart residents with P.O. Boxes have had to travel to the Seaside post office in order to receive their mail.

Navigating a post office a town away

According to Gould and others, townspeople are suffering hardships from the longer-distance mail commute. Elderly residents and individuals with disabilities have a hard time navigating congested parking lots. Plus, they said, ADA access is inadequate at the alternate Seaside facility.

Ever since Gearhart lost its contract station in February, one resident, Carol Lucas, 79, said she has had to drive from her home in Gearhart to Seaside if she wants to retrieve her mail. Lucas uses a pair of walking sticks in order to get around and said she struggles to find ADA parking at the Seaside post office.

In addition, it is costing her, she said. According to Lucas, a daily trip from Gearhart to Seaside is about $4 in gas. She calculates she has spent nearly $900 going back and forth since February. Because she lives on a fixed income, Lucas said it is stretching her finances thin.

She now wonders if it’s worth it just to get the mail on time. Lucas, who is a subscriber to The Astorian said now that she doesn’t get the paper on the day it’s supposed to arrive in the mail, “it isn’t fun to read the news anymore.” She also laments the fact that she is “missing weekend events because they’ve long passed after I read it in the paper.”

A tale of two cities under one ZIP code

Despite being two different cities, Gearhart and Seaside share one ZIP code. In 1961, the USPS converted Gearhart’s post office into a contract station overseen by the Seaside Post Office in order to save money. In 1963, the ZIP code system was introduced and the two post offices were given the same number: 97138. As long as Gearhart had its own satellite post office, things seemed to go fairly smoothly regarding mail delivery. But since February, the problems have exacerbated.

To add to the debacle, there are addresses in Gearhart that are very similar to addresses in Seaside.

Both Gould and Lucas have seen this play out to their detriment.

For instance, Gould lives on 1st Street in Gearhart and Lucas lives on 3rd Street in Gearhart. However, they said their mail is often sent to similar addresses in Seaside — 1st Avenue and 3rd Avenue — because they all have a Seaside ZIP code.

Part of the problem, too, said Gould, is that some of the streets aren’t even on the maps that mail carriers use.

A quagmire

In March, the USPS told members of the Gearhart City Council the only option for Gearhart P.O. Box holders would be to install a single cluster box large enough to accommodate all of the boxes the city needed.

But the city does not own any property large enough to accommodate such a box nor can they afford to purchase the space necessary to construct one.

This has put election integrity into question, said Gould. During the May primary election, Gearhart residents with P.O. Boxes didn’t receive voter pamphlets. They had to ask for them at the Seaside Post Office.

In August, the USPS audited the area to determine how many homes were getting mail, how many were using P.O. Boxes in Seaside — and how many were were not receiving mail at all.

According to Gould, the results of the audit reported that about 1,000 residents are in need of mail delivery services — they are either going unserved or have to use a Seaside P.O. Box. That translates to roughly 300 more boxes than what was formerly offered through the Gearhart contract station.

A city outside a database

According to Gould, Gearhart constituents have also been coming to her with reports of other instances of mail malfeasance, such as packages that have been destroyed after being stuck in transit between distribution hubs in Portland and Seaside.

Other P.O. Box holders have complained that because their addresses are not in the USPS database, online vendors cannot verify their address to mail them items or create business accounts. This can result in delivery refusals from vendors such as Etsy, EBay, Fed Ex, Verizon and other businesses that use the USPS database.

“When I try to order items and enter Gearhart as my city, the USPS database reverts the name to Seaside,” Gould said. “I never know if my packages will come to Gearhart or a similar address in Seaside.”

Officials weigh in, election around the corner

According to Javadi, he’s heard a number of complaints about missing mail, packages being returned, limited pickup hours and the difficulty some elderly and disabled residents face when trying to retrieve their mail.

“These aren’t minor inconveniences,” Javadi said. “People depend on the mail for medications, bills, business transactions and important government documents.”

Along with the Oregon Secretary of State’s office and Oregon’s federal congressional delegation, Javadi said his office is communicating with the USPS to try and remedy the issues people in Gearhart are facing.

“We’ve had conversations with USPS, and I appreciate the people who have been working on this,” Javadi said. “ … I understand that providing mail service involves operational and logistical challenges. But those challenges shouldn’t fall indefinitely on the shoulders of residents. We need a clear plan, better communication and a solution that works for the community.

“The government can and should be able to deliver the mail. That’s not exactly an unreasonable expectation.”

Javadi said he’s worried about voter access to ballot delivery as the midterm election is underway.

“I’m particularly concerned about the upcoming election,” Javadi said. “I don’t want to suggest there’s evidence that ballots have been lost, but the problems we’ve already seen are reason enough to seek assurances that every eligible voter will receive their ballot and have a reliable way to return it.

“Nobody’s right to vote should depend on whether their local post office has managed to sort out its delivery arrangements.”

Merkley’s office echoed Javadi. “Rural communities rely on consistent and timely mail delivery to receive lifesaving prescri