ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he filed a bill to create new zip codes for some areas in the state after receiving numerous complaints.
“(The complaints were) about a combination of lost mail, delayed mail taking unusually long in some areas,” Rubio said.
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Some residents in Ocoee said their mail has been delayed.
“My carrier is probably stretched thin. Sometimes he can’t get to our subdivision until 6 p.m.,” Rita Reissig said.
Delays have been attributed to the growing population, which is something Ocoee resident Samantha Nazariel said she’s noticed over the past few years.
“A lot of new communities are being built. I’ve noticed more building and with more building, comes more people,” Nazariel said.
According to the U.S. Census, the City of Ocoee has grown by 33% in the past ten years with more than 47,000 residents.
| Total Population 2010 | Total Population 2020 | Percent increase | |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Ocoee | 35,579 | 47,295 | 33 |
| Town of Oakland | 2,538 | 3,516 | 39 |
“When you draw these zip codes, they’re supposed to be drawn based on population, how many people live within the zip code,” Rubio said.
Rubio and Florida Sen. Rick Scott introduced a joint bill to create new zip codes with two Central Florida cities on the list—Ocoee and Oakland.
While Oakland is one of Orange County’s oldest municipalities, its post office only serves the historic city limits with a P.O. box service.
It’s the Winter Garden post office that delivers to the Oakland area. The new zip code would cover the entire Oakland area, while keeping the existing P.O. box service at the post office in the historic district.
Oakland’s city managers said they have been reaching out to legislators since 2016 about the issue.
Rubio said the new zip codes would take pressure off some of the post offices and help other delivery businesses as well.
“A bunch of commercial activity unrelated to the postal service is directly tied to these zip codes including Amazon, FedEx and UPS—they all piggyback as well,” Rubio said.
So far, there’s not a companion bill in the House for the new zip codes. The U.S. Postal Service will have to approve the new zip codes for them to go in effect.
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