The mail comes to Scenic

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

It has been a long time coming! But the mail has finally arrived in Scenic, Arizona.

A new, locally-owned business is now providing mailbox rentals for U.S. mail delivery right in Scenic. And the new facility offers many other convenient services to area residents as well.

Long-time Scenic residents, Dan and Rosa Williams opened this new business last fall. Return to Sender, located at 3855 S. Scenic Blvd., provides a one-stop shipping shop for the convenience of Scenic residents.

In a recent interview with The Progress, Dan related that many people who first move to the Scenic area are shocked to find out that there is no mail delivery or post office facilities in Scenic.

“Up to now, there have only been two choices,” Dan said. “Either you drive all the way down to the Littlefield Post Office to get your mail, or you pay to open a Post Office Box in Mesquite.”

Neither of these options are very economical or convenient, he said.

Because growth in the community of Scenic has been fairly recent, the U.S. Postal Service has not brought any infrastructure there, nor does it provide home delivery, Dan said. And getting either of those things in the little community is still a long way off.

“They told us that we have to have 25,000 people before we can get home delivery out here,” Dan said of the postal service. “We are at about 2,000 now. So that is still a long way off.”

To serve their Scenic neighbors, Dan and Rosa have opened Return to Sender, which has been designated by the Postal Service as a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA). That designation means that Dan and Rosa are authorized to pick up customers’ mail in Littlefield and then deliver it to their mailboxes in Scenic. And they do just that every single day.

“It takes until about 1 pm each day before the Littlefield Post Office has the daily mail all sorted and ready for us,” Dan said. “So we get there around then, pick it all up, bring it back here and sort it into everyone’s boxes. People can pick up their mail right here in Scenic by 3 pm each day.”

Return to Sender has about 75 mailbox customers currently. But it is growing fast. The word is getting out about the convenience of local mail pickup, Dan said.

One of those customers, David Fischer dropped in to get his mail during The Progress interview with the Williams. He had nothing but good to say about the new business.

“It is very convenient for us,” Fischer said. “Especially for my wife, Cindy. It is just everything right here close by and easy to get to.”

On the outside, Return to Sender is a gleaming new steel building. But on the inside, the room looks similar to a post office.

Lining the interior walls are banks of mailboxes of various sizes, 400 of them. And there is space already planned in the building to eventually expand that to 1,000 boxes as needed, Dan said.

The business also offers a variety of shipping services. People wishing to ship parcels through the mail are in luck. They can bring packages down to Return to Sender, pay for shipping and the Williams will get them into the mail on the next day.
Return to Sender also has postage stamps available for purchase.

Best of all, Return to Sender offers Federal Express shipping. This is a big plus for people receiving packages through thaat service.

“A lot of people here in Scenic have fenced yards and just about everyone has dogs,” Dan said. “When FedEx or UPS drivers come out to deliver, if they see a dog, they just leave the package outside at the gate. Sometimes, if people aren’t home, it could sit there for 24 to 48 hours or more.”

But for mailbox customers at Return to Sender, FedEx packages can be delivered to their building where they will be protected from the elements and secure from theft, Dan said.

The business is also open to anyone who needs to send packages or documents through Fed Ex as well.

Business hours at Return to Sender are 9 am to 5 pm. For more information call 435-229-9269.