SAN ANTONIO – Relief could be in the not-too-distant future for some northeast Bexar County homeowners who say they’ve gone without mail delivery for more than a year.
The president of the Fields of Dover subdivision now says he has begun taking steps to replace a cluster mailbox in that neighborhood that was damaged months ago.
“I got two bids. They’re both eight, nine-thousand dollars,” said Brian Jeffries. “That’s a lot of money, you know? We don’t just have that money like that. We budget for the year.”
Jeffries said he has been involved in a battle with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), arguing that his homeowners’ association (HOA) should not have to shoulder the financial burden for replacing the mail receptacle.
The cluster box was flattened about a year ago when an out-of-control car hit it.
Since then, Jo Ann Howe and her neighbors, who spoke to KSAT 12 News last Friday, say they’ve had to make daily trips to the post office to pick up their mail. The nearest location is about a mile and a half away, they said.
“You have a lot of retired people and some of them don’t have cars,” Howe said. “I mean, it’s just crazy.”
The neighbors say they feel caught in the middle of a squabble between their HOA and the USPS, each blaming the other for not making repairs.
“We’re not getting anywhere with it at all. They just keep saying, ‘No, it’s this one. No, it’s that one,” Howe said.
Jeffries, meanwhile, said he has been calling on the HOA’s attorneys to help him settle the matter.
Recently, he said he was told that the USPS had sent a letter denying responsibility.
“The post office has always (paid for repairs) and then now they’re saying they’re not going to do it,” Jeffries said. “They’re changing something in the middle of the game.”
To back up his claim, Jeffries pointed to another cluster mailbox, which he said the USPS replaced only about a year ago after it was damaged during a burglary.
In an email to KSAT 12 News, a USPS spokesperson said its policy dictates that the customer is responsible for any repairs or replacements. In this case, that would be the HOA.
The idea has stirred up controversy beyond this one neighborhood, especially after a rash of mailbox break-ins all across the area.
In response, Rep. Joaquin Castro introduced legislation in 2025 to direct the Postal Service to cover the cost of maintaining the mailboxes.
H.R. 2825, known as the Postal Service Clusterbox Responsibility Act, would also allow the USPS to recoup the costs for those repairs from a special fund set up by Congress.
The measure was sent to a House committee last April, where it currently remains.
In the meantime, Jeffries said he will do his best to deliver on his promise to help his neighbors.
“I’m going to take care of (replacing the mailbox) but, I mean, we can’t afford that,” he said.
Jeffries, however, was unable to provide a timeline for when the work would be completed.