KAPAA — The Kealia Post Office, located on the east side of Kaua‘i, has closed.
The Kealia postal facility in Kapa‘a issued a notice to all its customers and post office box holders earlier this week, informing them of the facility’s closure. The small postal establishment is a privately contracted and operated business owned by a resident who decided to cease operations several months ago.
The current operator informed U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Hawaii management of the decision not to proceed and struggled to find a replacement without any success, with the current tenant’s lease agreement with the landlord expiring on Sept. 30.
“We reached out to Kealia’s affected customers earlier this week and, since then, have been working with them to determine how best to continue serving them,” said Duke Gonzales, APR Corporate Communications for the USPS Hawaii Regions.
“We urge those customers to collaborate with the Anahola postmaster to determine their new delivery point as soon as possible,” he said.
Upon determining their preferred delivery point, customers can retrieve their forwarded mail at the Anahola Post Office. This complimentary service will allow customers to retain their existing address until a delivery point is established, without the risk of mail being returned to sender.
However, the Elections Division urges voters who held post office boxes at the Kealia Post Office to reregister to vote with their new mailing address. Voter ballot packets are scheduled to be mailed on Friday, Oct. 18, and unlike regular mail, USPS can only deliver ballot packets to the address on the packet.
Ballot packets cannot be forwarded to another address even if a voter filed a forwarding order with the USPS. This requirement has been set to validate voter mailing addresses and helps maintain the overall integrity of the voter file.
Anahola Post Office postmaster Barbara Gerrettie said she is happy to welcome all Kealia Post Office customers to Anahola.
“We haven’t seen any issues, and we haven’t had any disgruntled customers,” Gerretie said. “So, come to Anahola our clerks are fantastic here and we are happy and ready to assist our community,” she said.
The Anahola postmaster and USPS Hawaii management are still reviewing possible service options for impacted customers, including the possibility of adding mail receptacles at Anahola.
Residents with questions or inquiries are encouraged to contact the Anahola Post Office at 808-822-4710. Impacted voters can reregister at the Elections Division located at 4386 Rice St. in Lihue. Voters with a valid Hawaii driver’s license can reregister by visiting, https://olvr.hawaii.gov/.
