The mail pickup site within a mountain-base retreat in remote Jelm is slated to close by Sept. 30, the U.S. Postal Service has confirmed to Cowboy State Daily.
Locals will have to drive about 60 miles round trip to Laramie to pick up mail if no revived or alternate site is established in the Jelm region before then.
Rep. Harriet Hageman told Cowboy State Daily on Friday she’s “incredibly disappointed” with the “timeline” USPS gave in this process.
And the owners of the Woods Landing Resort, which has been the community’s mail pickup point for decades, voiced frustration in a Friday phone interview, saying they fell on the wrong end of a bureaucratic problem that has led some residents to call for boycotts against them.
“We didn’t cause this,” said Peter Reinertsen, who runs the business with his wife, Ellen. “We were as shocked as everybody else when that letter came three, four days ago into our boxes saying, ‘Hey we’ve solved the problem: You get to drive 60 miles once a day and you’ve got to make sure you do it during business hours.’”
USPS strategic communications specialist James Boxrud confirmed the closure in a Thursday email.
“As a result, neither mail nor packages can continue to be delivered there after September 30,” he said.
Back It Up
The contracted delivery point at Woods Landing Resort has served as a centralized mailbox site for about 120 customers, as Jelm hasn’t had a postmaster since 1965.
USPS is offering complimentary PO boxes at the Laramie Post Office for Jelm-area residents until a new delivery point is established, or customers may pick up mail “held securely on a designated phantom route at the Laramie Post Office,” said Boxrud in his Thursday email.
He said USPS is “actively working to establish a new cluster box location approximately 1.3 miles from the former site.”
Boxrud said the postmaster is awaiting a signed agreement from the new site's property owner, and earlier estimates of completing the new site suggest a spring 2027 opening.
60 Miles … Round Trip?
Local woman Jennifer LeBeau announced the closure Thursday via a Facebook post to the Laramie Rants and Raves group, saying Hageman confirmed the mail site would close after the resort “unexpectedly did not renew the contract.”
LeBeau added, “To not renew the contract the owners of Woods Landing have created a major obstacle for the residents of Jelm and created a community disservice.”
LeBeau declined via Facebook message to give an interview.
At least one commenter under the post called for a boycott of Woods Landing and others voiced frustration.
The Reinertsens told Cowboy State Daily the post’s characterization, and what they’ve understood as multiple calls for boycott, blindsided them.
“We’re just as much in a stuck place as our community,” said Ellen. “We’re not trying to take this away from our community.”
She said the shutdown came after a federal push to get mail pickup sites out of privately owned buildings.
Peter was more blunt.
“We don’t want to drive 60 miles round trip to get our mail every frickin’ day either,” he said.
The pair bought the business in 2021, said Ellen.
Concerns over mail service surfaced the following year, when the business sought to provide land to Colorado Parks and Wildlife so the agency could build a boat ramp. At that time, Peter said, the USPS discussed getting a concrete contractor to the land to install cluster boxes for mail.
“They told us they were waiting to find out who the concrete contractor will be,” he said. “And we have been waiting ever since for that concrete contractor to be named.”
Ellen clarified multiple times that she and Peter don’t have issues with the postmaster in Laramie.
As for the retreat, it serves as a bazaar-like host to multiple home-goods sellers in the community and relies on having good relations with other residents, Ellen added.
The Letters
On April 1, USPS sent Woods Resort’s registered company a letter, of which the Reinertsens sent Cowboy State Daily a photograph.
“In accordance with the terms of the Lease under which the Postal Service leases from you the above postal quarters,” says the letter, “please be advised: that the Postal Service hereby terminates the Lease, effective 09/30/2026.”
Peter told Cowboy State Daily that during the five months that followed, he was under the impression some alternate mail pickup was being arranged.
USPS sent another letter to the company, dated Sept. 9, reannouncing the closure – but this time adding “you, as the customer currently receiving mail at the Woods Landing delivery location, will have to pick up your mail from the Post Office in Laramie.”
That’s not feasible for the townspeople at all, said Ellen. She said many retirement-age residents live in that community; and the road to Laramie can be dangerous in winter. She added that some other working people, and older residents who may not be internet fluent, rely on getting mail every day.
A fixed mailbox also protrudes from the storefront, where locals and travelers would place outgoing mail.
The Reinertsens said they were actively working with Hageman to reach a solution, and that they communicated well Friday morning with Boxrud.
Boxrud in response to the Reinertsens' comments sent a follow-up email, which says, "We understand the concerns raised by both local residents and the property owner, and we share their desire to maintain uninterrupted mail service in the Woods Landing/Jelm area."
He said USPS is working actively to identify a viable place for the new cluster boxes and will communicate updates as soon as a solution is finalized.
A Note From Hageman
Hageman did not directly address the statement LeBeau attributed to her secondhand, but the representative said in a Friday email: “While I appreciate the prompt engagement, I am incredibly disappointed in the U.S. Postal Service’s timeline provided to resolve the lack of service in the Woods Landing community.”
“I have successfully fought efforts by USPS to reduce operations within our state,” continued Hageman, “including attempts to close our processing facilities and direct mail processing to surrounding states.”
She said she would “continue to elevate Wyoming’s USPS concerns as a source of consistent frustration across the state. In the meantime, my office is actively pursuing relief to fill local gaps in service.”
Ellen Reinertsen said it’s unclear how, or if, Hageman or her office were involved in telling residents that the Reinertsens had “unexpectedly” ended their own lease.
“We are also not trying to blame Hageman,” said Ellen, adding that it seems someone at Hageman’s office might have lacked “the full information.”
Later Friday morning, Peter messaged Cowboy State Daily to say he and Ellen were speaking with Hageman via phone. He was hopeful the closure would be remedied.
Earlier in his phone interview, Peter said, “In a sense, it’s frustrating to me. I think it’s the bureaucracy of the whole thing, that nothing moves until the right squeaky wheel makes the noise.”
He said he’d told Boxrud earlier that day that, “There’s been more done about this situation in the last 24 hours than there’s been done in the last six years.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
