Decision on Bijou post office expected in 3 weeks

By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe post office officials expect to know by the end of the month if the Bijou facility will be closed.

Postmaster Toni Passot told Lake Tahoe News on Jan. 5 that no decision has been made yet.

Some of the confusion with the more than 900 people who rent a box at the facility may be that they cannot renew their box for more than six months. Passot said based on how the U.S. Postal Service issues refunds, it’s better for patrons not to rent longer than six moths at Bijou right now.

The lease on the building expires in the summer. If the decision is made to close the office, summer is when it would likely occur. The reason to close would be to save money.

“We can accommodate them in other facilities,” Passot said. The main post office is one mile away, plus there is an office in Meyers and one at the Y. Or people could get mail delivered to their house.

In the last several years, the Tahoe Keys, Stateline area and Black Bart neighborhood locations that just had boxes, and no office per se, have also closed.

“We had as many boxes as the city of Reno at one time,” Passot said. “But we didn’t have home mail delivery then.”

There was a time when there was a waiting list for a post office box in South Lake Tahoe. Without home delivery, people were on General Delivery — meaning they had to get their mail from a clerk during business hours.