For most Blanco households, the mail never stopped. Carriers still deliver to street addresses on their usual routes. What closed on May 29, 2026 was the counter and the box lobby at 402 4th St. Anyone in Blanco who rents a PO box, mails a certified letter or needs a clerk now works around another town's office hours. More than four months later, that is still the arrangement. The building that would end it has a signed lease and an announced plan, but no opening date.
That makes the closure mostly a question of hours. Johnson City has taken in Blanco's counter business, and its retail window opens on weekdays only. Until a new Blanco office opens, Blanco's postal week runs Monday through Friday and ends at 4:30 p.m.
The lease was not renewed
USPS has given one reason from the start. Its first public notice, dated Feb. 27, 2026, proposed moving Blanco's retail services because the lease at the 4th Street location was not being renewed. The May 29 USPS notice gave the same reason when operations moved. KXAN reported that the lease expired May 31, two days after service was suspended.
This explains why the fix takes so long. No repair crew is coming to reopen 4th Street. The Postal Service has to find a new site, sign a lease, fit out the space and move in. Each step depends on the one before it, and the record shows how far along the process is.
The paper trail so far
- Feb. 27, 2026. USPS announces it is considering relocating Blanco's retail services because the lease is not being renewed.
- May 29, 2026, 4:30 p.m. All operations at 402 4th St. move to the Johnson City Post Office at 201 S. Avenue G. PO box addresses stay the same.
- June 1, 2026. Box mail held over from Blanco becomes available for pickup in Johnson City. Customers need photo ID.
- June 12, 2026. After a 45-day comment period, USPS makes a final decision to relocate retail services to a "new tentative location" at 902 13th St. It says it will look at other sites in the area if it cannot reach an agreement with the owner.
- July 16, 2026. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy's office reports that USPS has confirmed a finalized lease at 902 13th St. It says renovations and infrastructure work have to be finished before full retail and delivery operations can start.
- Aug. 11, 2026. At that evening's City Council meeting, Mayor Candy Cargill passes along an update from USPS that it is "solidifying their plan to move into the old Sta-Built building."
Only the first five steps are on the record in USPS or congressional documents. The council minutes do not give an address for the Sta-Built building, so this post does not say for certain that it is the 13th Street site. It would be reasonable to assume so, but the record stops short of saying it.
Nothing newer has turned up. The City Council agendas for Sept. 8, Sept. 23 and Sept. 30 include no post office item. As of early October, the USPS location page for Blanco still lists 402 4th St. as "Temporarily Closed" and points customers to Johnson City.
Where each errand goes right now
Because the closure affects some tasks and not others, it helps to look at each errand on its own.
| What you need | Where it happens now | Hours on record |
|---|---|---|
| Street-address mail delivery | Unchanged, delivered as before | Not affected by the closure |
| Picking up Blanco PO box mail | Johnson City Post Office, 201 S. Avenue G | Mon–Fri, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m., per the May 29 notice |
| Counter service: stamps, certified mail, package drop-off | Johnson City Post Office | Mon–Fri, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; closed Saturday and Sunday |
| Held mail and notice-left pickups | Johnson City Post Office | Mon–Fri, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. |
| UPS shipping with staff and packing supplies | K & C Supply, 2400 N US Highway 281, Blanco | Check the UPS location listing |
| Prelabeled FedEx drop-off and pickup | FedEx at Dollar General, 1010 S US Hwy 281, Blanco | Check the FedEx location listing |
The top row matters most. Most Blanco households still get mail at the house the way they always have, and USPS said in May that street delivery would not be affected. The rest of the table is where the 4:30 Friday cutoff applies.
The Saturday question
Two documents disagree about weekends. Roy's July 16 release said the Johnson City Post Office had "committed to additional hours of operation on Saturday to accommodate the Blanco community." The USPS listing for Johnson City shows retail service Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closed on Saturday and Sunday. The release did not give a Saturday schedule, and the listing shows no update date, so neither one confirms the other. Before planning a Saturday trip, call the Johnson City office to confirm whether it is open.
The box lobby is just as unclear. The Johnson City listing now shows PO box access there from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. every day. That applies to Johnson City's own boxes. The May 29 notice gave weekday pickup hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for Blanco box mail held there, and no later source says whether that changed. Roy's release described a separate goal, restoring 24-hour access to PO boxes in Blanco itself, and called it something USPS was "attempting" to do. No public source has said yet that it has happened.
What still works on Highway 281
Two businesses on U.S. 281 handle part of what the counter used to do. Neither one replaces the post office.
- K & C Supply, 2400 N US Highway 281. UPS lists it as an authorized, staffed, full-service shipping provider. It takes new shipments, handles package drop-off and pickup, and sells packing supplies.
- FedEx at Dollar General, 1010 S US Hwy 281. It handles drop-off and pickup of FedEx shipments that are already packaged and labeled. FedEx says the location does not provide packing materials.
Both are carrier services. This research found no business inside Blanco that is confirmed to sell stamps or act as an approved USPS shipper. For anything that has to go through the Postal Service, such as certified mail or a box rental, the counter in Johnson City is currently the only option on record.
What would change the picture
Under the June 12 decision, USPS expects to offer the same services at the new location that it offered on 4th Street. The remaining step is the one Roy's office described in July, finishing renovations and infrastructure so "full retail and delivery operations" can start. No target date has been published for that work. The most recent local update on record came from the mayor on Aug. 11.
The clearest signal will come from USPS itself. It announced every earlier step in its Texas newsroom, from the February proposal to the June decision, and the Blanco location page will change from "Temporarily Closed" once the new office is open. City Council minutes are a second source, since that is where the Sta-Built update first appeared. Rep. Roy's office also said it would keep the community informed as more updates arrive.
Until one of those sources changes, the arrangement stays the same. Blanco PO box mail and counter service are handled at 201 S. Avenue G in Johnson City, on weekdays, until 4:30 p.m.
When an office building in a small town changes hands, it touches daily life well beyond the people involved in the deal, and the 4th Street post office is one example. If you own property in Blanco and are wondering what a vacancy or new tenant on your block might mean, talk with CC Herber Co. We've been following Hill Country main streets since 1979. Schedule a Consultation.
