Images of your friendly neighborhood mail carrier trundling along the roadside in a boxy white mailtruck or walking up to the door in striped federal blue are as American as apple pie, but in this 250th birthday year for the nation, not everyone gets to partake in this American experience.
For the residents of 30 to 75 homes in Wheeler – no one’s sure exactly how many – it’s more of a hunting expedition than the receiving of mail. Since the closing of the Wheeler post office branch in July 2023, the residents have had to travel to the Hobart post office to collect their mail. The unserved pocket is limited to a small area south of Ind. 130 and north of County Road 450 North.
The 4.8 miles may not seem like a lot to some, but the nine-minute drive is a far cry from the quick jaunt across 130 they used to make to collect their mail at the Wheeler branch, particularly for Jeanine Ross, who is disabled after a car accident. She lives in the 100 block of Park Avenue and relies on her mom, Deb Hollifield, of the 200 block of State Street, to collect mail for both of them.
“When there was a post office (in Wheeler), you just went in and got your mail. It was left open and if you had a package, they would put a yellow slip in your box,” Hollifield said of the 24-hour access residents had to their post office boxes.
In Hobart, they must go during business hours, which is difficult for at least one of their neighbors who owns a business on the far side of Lake County and has a hard time being in Hobart in person when the office is open. “We used to have a separate door we could go in to get our mail and now it’s locked and we have to get in line with everybody else,” said Anita Case, of the 200 block of Park Avenue.
“It’s a big inconvenience and it’s not fair that everybody else around here gets their mail (delivered),” Hollifield said. “My concern is the older ones and, like Jeanine, the ones that can’t get out. What about the ones that can’t drive anymore? We pay taxes just like everybody else.”
Aside from relying on a proxy she trusts to pick up her mail, Ross said customer service is rough. “You try to call the post office in Hobart and you have to go through the whole system,” she said. “You can’t just talk to Hobart.”
Last month, she needed to make a change and “it took me a day and a half” to get through to someone. That slowness also applies to the mail itself.
“I got a Christmas card on Jan. 17 and it was postmarked Dec. 15,” Ross said. “It’s disheartening to get mail that late.”
For Anita Case, some of the mail never comes. “I know there’s mail we’re not getting, like our advertising and coupons,” she said. “We used to get it when it came to Wheeler. Most people would consider it junk, but I like to get coupons.”
Jim Case, Anita’s husband, is baffled by the Wheeler closure because he said they used to brag that they couldn’t close the branch because it generated too much revenue from people stopping on their way to and from work. Indeed, the spot of the former Wheeler post office is on an extremely busy stretch on the north side of Ind. 130.
“There were times I would go in there and I would get a slip and have to wait in line 20 minutes, or say, ‘Well, I’ll come back later. I’m not waiting for this guy to mail his packages he sold on eBay,’” Jim Case said.
Union Township Trustee George Topoll said he and all the members of the township board signed a contract last November to lease land to the postal service for a drop-in-place post office in Union Township Community Park at the northwest corner of County Road 625 West and Ind. 130 on the site of the old Wheeler High School grounds.
“I thought we were going to have a post office in place for the 250th anniversary,” he said. “I’ve been working on this for three years.”
As of the first of the year, Topoll was told all significant projects were being reevaluated and the postal service never signed the contract. “They don’t really have anyone locally I can talk to,” he said. “I haven’t had much luck with the Hobart post office.”
Despite help from State Representative Julie Olthoff, R-19th, State Senator Ed Charbonneau, R-5th, then-State Senator, now Gov. Mike Braun, and the Porter County Council and Commissioners, he has no updates.
“It’s not a good thing. I think it’s critical, especially for some disabled people if they can’t get their checks,” Topoll said. “Sometimes it’s difficult just to get to the end of the drive, let alone go 9 miles round-trip. I don’t have the clout to get ‘er done.”
At the very least, Topoll would like his constituents to get a standalone blue mailbox. Many new subdivisions in the U.S. have cluster mailboxes at a central location in the neighborhood.
An online search shows the postal service may have a general policy that residents should be able to access their mail within 1.5 miles, but the Postal Service did not provide a representative to answer questions.
Instead, it issued the following statement: “There is currently no change on the status of P.O. Box mail for Wheeler customers. Local management is seeking options for P.O. Box mail delivery to return to the Wheeler community. The Postal Service will make a public announcement when final arrangements are confirmed.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
