MILLS — This small eastern suburb of Casper has an identity crisis having to share a ZIP code with the larger city, which can leave residents frustrated trying to get home deliveries from FedEx and UPS.
It also has cost this city of a little more than 4,000 people financially, locals say.
Mayor Leah Juarez said the U.S. Postal Service only allows an entity to request its own separate and unique ZIP code once every 10 years. A previous mayor tried to get Mills its own ZIP, but was shot down by the Postal Service less than 10 years ago.
Not wanting that potential for denial every decade, the city has now reached out to the state’s congressional delegation to bypass the USPS. Juarez said Rep. Harriet Hageman has stepped up to help push the city’s quest.
Now a unique ZIP code for Mills is listed in H.R. 672, a bill signed on to by Hageman in January that passed the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday and is headed to the full U.S. House for consideration.
The bill designates a single unique ZIP code for 14 communities in the United States, including Mills.
“It is important that each of our municipalities have the tools they need to fulfill their duties to their constituents,” Hageman said. “I’ve been working with Mayor Juarez on this issue to ensure that Mills residents are able to receive their mail, that no barriers exist for municipal operations, and that the census is accurate.”
Hageman said she looks forward “to its consideration by the full House of Representatives.”
Juarez said the issue for the city is that most residents are required to have postal boxes because there is no home delivery of mail, and that the ZIP code for the boxes at the post office is 82644. However, the physical addresses of homes in Mills and a portion of Casper, as well as Alcova, all have a 82604 ZIP code.
That’s caused an issue with the city’s ability to bill for EMS services, the city’s census count as well as getting the tax revenue that it is due, Juarez said.
She said during the last census, an “influential portion of our residents were applied to the incorrect city due to the overlap of 82604 between Caper and Mills.”
Lost Property Taxes
It also takes away from Mills having its own identity other than just being an extension of Casper.
“We have people who are under the impression they are Casper residents when they have a Mills residence, and it has to do with the 82604 ZIP code,” the mayor said. “We are confident that property taxes are not being properly attributed to Mills.”
Juarez said another issue for the city are franchise fees from Rocky Mountain Power.
In a letter the city shared with Hageman, Rocky Mountain Power Regional Business Manager Mike Morrissey wrote the U.S. Postal Service on Dec. 1, 2023, informing it that the company was having “difficulty assigning addresses to the city of Mills, Wyoming, for our utility reimbursement.”
Morrissey wrote the fact that some addresses are listed as Casper when in reality are within the city of Mills boundary is the issue.
“ZIP codes in the city limits are not consistent,” he wrote. “Possible solution would be to have all Mills, Wyoming, addresses be assigned only one ZIP code. Can you help resolve these issues?”
Other problems for the city involve residents being able to order goods online and having to try and “trick” the company’s shipping software because FedEx and UPS have bought mailing lists from the U.S. Postal Service and only P.O. boxes are associated with half the Mills addresses.
Rebecca McNicholl was at the Mills Post Office on Thursday afternoon and said she can vouch for the issue with packages and FedEx or UPS.
“They don’t recognize my address where I live and my home was built in 2015,” she said. “I have it shipped here (post office) under their address here and I have to come pick it up.”
Conceal Carry Issue
In information provided to Hageman, a statement from Mills resident Kyle Hasmuk said he had an issue trying to get his conceal carry permit from the state because of his mandated post office box.
“I had to receive my permit to my physical address,” he wrote. “Which created an issue at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) because they need a physical address to assign to the permit itself.
“When we tried to use the address, it (software) did not recognize the 82604 ZIP code because it was assigned to Casper and not to Mills.”
Mills resident Karla McWain wrote that she went to the Mills Post Office after 9 p.m. and saw five Amazon packages delivered by an Amazon driver addressed to the post office, followed by box numbers for various residents.
“I called the police department and asked them to keep them safe over the weekend and then returned to the post office on Monday morning only to find that the post office ‘hoped’ the packages were gathered up and delivered accordingly,” she wrote. “Until Mills has its own ZIP code, the residents will continue to pay the price for neglectful delivery drivers and will keep experiencing frustration surrounding their mailing addresses.”
Juarez said a separate issue involves the city’s ambulance billing.
She said because of the shared ZIP code, the city’s fire department, which uses an EMS billing company that is locked into the U.S. Postal Service addresses and therefore Mills P.O. Boxes, must manually change ZIP codes on billing accounts related to physical addresses which would be the 82604 number.
Juarez said the city is not trying to get the Postal Service to do home delivery in the city, but it is just asking for the unique ZIP code. She said the city was thankful for Hageman’s help with the issue.
“Rep. Hageman has taken it and is running with it,” she said.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
