TEHACHAPI, Calif. (KERO) — Hundreds of customers at the Postal ASAP on Tucker Road in Tehachapi are facing a mail crisis after the store abruptly closed last week, leaving many without access to important items including medications and irreplaceable packages.
The sudden closure has created significant hardship for local residents like Carol Casey-Newell of Bear Valley Springs, who visited the store Wednesday hoping to retrieve her mail.
"We get our prescriptions through the mail. My husband is in the hospital in Bakersfield. He's coming home in a few days, but he'll be on hospice. So, I'm trying to deal with a lot besides this," Casey-Newell said.
When asked what she's been going through these past couple of days, Casey-Newell's response was simple: "Hell."
The Postal ASAP reopened temporarily on Wednesday for five hours and will be open Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Many customers were told their mail was likely returned to sender, while others were able to retrieve their items.
Brandy Davenport, a small business owner in Tehachapi, paid $240 for a year's service just two days before the closure.
"I just think that the whole thing is a real slap-in-the-face to the community, especially the senior citizens that utilize this building, the small businesses, the everyday person. If you know that you're going to be evicted, just be honest. I feel like the community would give you grace and have understanding, especially in a hard time. But instead they willingly knew they were closing and they still took people's payment and I just think that's fraud at the highest point," Davenport said.
According to the Tehachapi News, the store's owner, Shaunamarie Conrad, was served a three-day notice to pay rent or quit on July 8, 2024. At that time, more than $44,000 in rent was reportedly due.
Conrad's phone number is posted at the store window, but she did not return phone messages. Davenport said Conrad recently created a GoFundMe page seeking $125,000 and was supposed to have posted notice of her closing back in March.
Brandi Kendrick, whose grandfather's image appears on a recently restored mural in downtown Tehachapi, also paid $240 for a year's service in May. She's concerned about a VHS tape of her grandfather that someone had sent to her through the postal store.
"I feel bad that they're experiencing the hardships that they're experiencing, but at the same time I'm like 'Oh, someone should have said something.' Now we're at a position that we've had packages sent here that can't be replaced," Kendrick said.
Representatives managing the Red Apple Plaza in Tehachapi who were helping customers on Wednesday declined to comment on camera.
This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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