Nudists upset over USPS carrier who won’t deliver mail inside Florida resort community
HUDSON, Fla. (WFLA) – Nudists who live at Eden RV Resort and City Retreat in Hudson say they are being discriminated against by the U.S. Postal Service.
One postal carrier refuses to deliver mail inside the gates of the resort for fear of seeing naked people, residents say. When they complained to the post office, a manager told them carriers are not required to enter the resort if it offends them.
“It offends me that she does not do her job because if she can’t do her job, then she shouldn’t be having this job,” said Eileen Hudak, who has lived at the resort for 10 years and calls it a “family resort.”
Residents say the regular mail carrier has no problem entering the park, and they receive packages from FedEx and other carriers. But when one female mail carrier fills in – and she does so on a regular basis – they don’t receive packages.
The park has mailboxes outside its gate, but if boxes don’t fit, residents want them delivered either to their residence or the office at the park.
“She marks it undeliverable, whether it fits in the box or it doesn’t, so we don’t get the mail that day. And sometimes the mail is important. Like with our neighbor, medication sometimes. You can’t wait until Monday or Tuesday to go get it.”
The Eden RV Resort and City Retreat are two communities behind one gate. The RV Resort consists of RVs and some tents. Many residents are seasonal and others live there full time. Residents in City Retreat live in single-family homes. The whole compound is clothing optional.
Leonard Rusin, a disabled veteran, is fed up that every time one carrier is working, he has to go to the post office to pick up his packages.
Rusin describes the community as a family and says the mail carrier needs to be more professional.
“There’s a postal creed and it doesn’t say anything about not going into a nudist resort,” Ruskin said. “I pay for a service, and I expect that service.”
Enola Rice, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service, said the carrier is doing nothing wrong. Rice sent this statement:
The mission of the Postal Service is to provide trusted, affordable, universal service to our customers. One of the ways we do this is through centralized delivery, which is the method of delivery for this community. In accordance with postal regulations, all mail is left in the appropriate boxes. Packages are left in the large parcel lockers, which, like the mailboxes, are located just outside the entrance to the community. Notices are left for mail requiring signature and items that do not fit in the lockers. Carriers are not required to deliver beyond the centralized delivery units. We can assure all customers that mail and packages are being delivered according to national centralized delivery requirements. The Postal Service appreciates its customers and strives to provide the best possible service at all times.”
Residents are not happy with this answer and say the postal service won’t even try to work out a resolution. They want all carriers to deliver packages to the main office, or at least call the office staff so that they can come to the gate. Currently, neither are options for this one particular carrier.