Colorado mountain town of Silverthorne considers legal action against United States Postal Service

Things have gotten so bad with some mountain mailrooms in Colorado that one town, Silverthorne (backed up by a smattering of other mountain towns), is considering taking legal action against the federal agency of the United States Postal Service.

"I know we are in a current extreme crisis with the post office. Someone in my office showed me a letter they got on Saturday that was mailed to them on Dec. 13," Silverthorne town manager Ryan Hyland told CBS News Colorado.

Hyland said lawyers are looking into what it would take to move on this sweeping potential class-action lawsuit but are focused on any solution that seems plausible, such as teaming with the post office to offer affordable housing for workers.

"We are working on ways to try and engage with the postal service, and this (a lawsuit) might be a last resort," Hyland said. 

As with many of these stories, it's not the postal workers themselves that are under fire here, it's an institution that has led to the almost-collapse of many of the post offices in remote -- or sometimes not-so-remote -- mountain towns in Colorado. 

"I think our local postal service workers are doing everything that they can. They are heroes in this conversation," Hyland said. "It is the larger postal system and not acknowledging some of the issues in places they work."

Among issues listed from individual residents frustrated with late or complete lack of delivery, Hayland said people simply deserve to have a post office that functions like the post office functions for everyone else.