Wendel villagers say they're fed up with not having mail service
Villagers in Wendel are saying they've been without mail service for almost five years, and many are saying enough is enough.
Since 2021, the post office in the village of Wendel in Hempfield Township has been closed. Wendel has never had home delivery, so people had to come to the post office to pick up their mail.
Tim Szekely is the second generation of his family to own the old postal building. He says his father had a very amicable lease with the postal service for decades, but he says that it was the Postal Service that dictated a bad lease agreement to his father several years back.
"Normally, when I lease you a property, I'm the one who gives you the lease, but with the post office, they give you a lease," Szekely said. "So they went from a two-page simple lease to like a booklet, and my dad's like, 'I can't sign the booklet. I don't know what's in it,' and he said eventually, 'I'll sign it and we can keep going on the old lease.' He was perfectly willing to do that, but if you ask me, it was scheduled to be shut down, they just wanted it shut down."
Once the facility was closed, some villagers, who live directly off Wendel Road, changed their addresses from Wendel to Irwin and started getting their mail delivered to their boxes along that road.
But for most members of this community, who live off the main drag in small neighborhoods, they have been forced to drive across Route 30 to the Manor Post Office, some 10 minutes away, and pick up their mail from a clerk.
But Wendel residents say that has to change.
Jackie Greenawalt, a former postal employee at the old Wendel Post Office, says they have been reaching out to many officials in the local, state and federal government for help. But she says no one seems able to help.
"Ideally, we want the mail delivered to our house, like a lot of other people, and it's free. You know, everyone is entitled to free delivery," Greenawalt said. "And if it can't be that, then cluster boxes the NBCUs would be great. We were already told that there will never be a post office building here Wendel, so home delivery."
When reached for comment, the Postal Service said they have no update on when or if they'll be restoring service to the village of Wendel.
The Hempfield supervisor released a statement, saying:
"Hempfield Township is committed to working collaboratively with our federal legislators to ensure the concerns of our residents are communicated effectively. We remain hopeful that the United States Postal Service and the Postmaster General will take appropriate steps to enhance service reliability. Our staff will continue to engage with federal officials in a constructive manner to support the needs of our community."