'Brave Little State' explores the state of the U.S. Postal ServiceExBulletin

Brave Little State is a podcast that answers listeners' questions about Vermont.

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

I'll be honest, sometimes I daydream about a different job, wondering what life would be like if I hadn't become a journalist and had instead taught high school English or been a lawyer or, you know, professional baseball player. Well, Vermont Public producer Burgess Brown dreams of it too.

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BURGESS BROWN, BYLINE: I'm very happy to be a journalist. But I have to tell you that I sometimes think about another path, some kind of fantastic career.

DETROW: His alternative career path…

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BROWN: It's my campaign mailman dream. In it, I'm driving a beat-up Forester full of mail in a small town somewhere. I know my neighbors. I know their dogs. I saw their children grow up. How romantic.

DETROW: …A postman. The next best thing to being a mailman, in Burgess's case, was reporting on them. Brave Little State is a podcast that answers listeners' questions about Vermont. In a recent episode, he answered a question about the state of the United States Postal Service and found that it wasn't as romantic as he imagined.

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BROWN: It's a freezing day in January 2024 and the residents of Montpellier are pissed.

BEN DOYLE: One hundred and eighty-two days is how long Montpellier was without a post office.

BROWN: A few hundred worried Montpellier residents (ph) gathered in front of the federal building downtown. It housed the town's post office until it flooded in the summer of 2023. Six months later, it still stands empty.

DOYLE: In the days following the July flood, residents and friends of Montpellier arrived.

BROWN: Ben Doyle stands at a microphone on the muddy sidewalk, flanked by members of Vermont's congressional delegation. Ben chairs the Montpellier Recovery and Resilience Commission, created to respond to the devastating floods in July.

DOYLE: The teenagers emptied the basements. Neighbors checked on neighbors. The delegation introduced itself. The governor introduced himself. Philanthropy appeared. You have appeared. But 182 days later, do you know who didn't come? – Leadership of the United States Postal Service.

BROWN: These 182 days have been a confusing and often frustrating time for Montpellier residents. For a time, the town's makeshift postal presence consisted of two or three delivery trucks serving as ad hoc post office boxes, surrounded by stacks of plastic crates overflowing with mail and packages. They did not sell stamps and only accepted prepaid mail, so residents had to travel to nearby towns for this. There was no electricity or air conditioning in the summer and, as temperatures dropped, no more heating. At one time, postal workers lit open fires in a metal tub to keep warm while they delivered mail.

Concerned citizens and the congressional delegation wrote letters to management, demanding that Postmaster General DeJoy provide a timeline for a new permanent post office. But nothing: Residents' patience was running out, like local business owner Kate Whelley McCabe.

KATE WHELLEY MCCABE: We're not asking for a miracle here. What we're asking is that our federal government do the most basic things, which is give us a functioning post office right here in town.

BROWN: Johanna Nichols said traveling to neighboring Barre to use postal services there was harming Montpelier's seniors.

JOHANNA NICHOLS: Have you tried the Barre Post Office entrance? It's quite tricky.

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BROWN: The pressure campaign continued throughout the winter. And in April of last year, the Postal Service announced it had signed a lease for a downtown property. They promised a fully functioning post office before the start of summer. But summer came, and summer passed, then fall and still no post. In October, the American Postal Workers Union rallied on the State House lawn, and Ben Doyle showed up with updated numbers.

DOYLE: Four hundred and forty-nine days, we're waiting, and we're not going to take it any longer.

BROWN: One of the most recurring criticisms I heard at that time was that people in Montpelier didn't really know where to get their mail or what their plans were for the future. They were frustrated by the lack of communication from postal service management.

DOYLE: Yes, we can write to them, or we can call them, and they won't answer us, or they don't really care what we think, or we're howling into the wind.

BROWN: Well, the people of the city, our congressional delegation, spent 15 months howling into the wind. And then, in the middle of my reporting for this story, 460 days after the flood and without much fanfare, it finally happened.

MICHAEL HAKEY: You have the scissors. As postmaster you can cut the ribbon.

BROWN: It is October 12, 2024, in downtown Montpellier, and a grand opening is taking place.

HAKEY: First of all, welcome everyone to the Montpellier Post Office. It is certainly an exciting day in the history of the Montpellier Post Office. And we are so grateful to you who have worked tirelessly to get this office reopened.

BROWN: Michael Hakey, postal operations manager, presides over this celebration. The journalists seem to outnumber the townspeople, and there are only four journalists.

HAKEY: We will now cut the ribbon and – which will mean the official inauguration of the Montpellier Post Office. Postmaster Doug Powell will cut the ribbon.

DOUG POWELL: We are officially open.

HAKEY: Excellent. Congratulations or thank you.

BROWN: Did you understand that? Congratulations or thank you. This seems fair.

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BROWN: Congratulations, you got your post office back, or thanks for your patience? It’s hard to know what to think of this day when it’s taken so long to arrive. And then when it finally happened, it kind of happened with a little whimper. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, I watched residents peer out of windows, then shyly enter to see if, this time, their post office was really open. And whatever their complaints about the postal service, they were happy to see a familiar face behind the counter…

WENDY GILLANDER: It was great to see you, Ned. Alright, I'll see you soon.

BROWN: …Wendy Gillander, post office employee in Montpellier.

GILLANDER: So it's been great.

BROWN: Yeah.

GILLANDER: I'm really happy to be back and seeing our regular customers on a more regular basis, I guess, I would say.

BROWN: Wendy has spent the last 460 days in the snow, in the rain, in the heat, making sure the people of Montpelier receive their mail. Wendy knows her neighbors, her children, her dogs, and they all know her too.

ALICE ANGNEY: Yeah.

GILLANDER: Yeah, that's true.

ANGNEY: Thank you very much. I'm glad you have a house.

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DETROW: That was Burgess Brown on Vermont Public's Brave Little State podcast.

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