The U.S. Post Office in Dillon was recently forced to close after some of their employees called out sick. The already small staff was left with almost no help.
Similar staffing problems are plaguing many mountain post offices. Right now, Dillon’s post office has two open positions, Frisco’s has three, Breckenridge’s has one and the Leadville post office is hoping to hire a few employees.
These shortages are all coming down to one thing: the paycheck.
“The cost of living is double what it is anywhere else and the wages don’t change. You can go to Kentucky and live like a king and here it’s like ‘How am I going to pay the bills?'” said Michael Mendillo, Dillon’s postmaster. “So it’s a little rough hiring.”
A pay increase is slated to happen for post office workers within the next year, but the current salaries are a constant hurdle the U.S. Postal Service faces at job fairs such as the one they are hosting on Saturday.