SWANS ISLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) – Over the past few weeks, people living on two islands off the coast of Mount Desert Island have been having trouble getting their mail. Frenchboro, for instance, is only getting mail service two days a week.

They say it’s because the post office couldn’t come to an agreement with the man who carried letters and packages to Swans Island and Frenchboro for decades. That has upset a lot of people who see the former mailman, LJ Hopkins, as family.

For 27 years he’s been delivering mail here, part of a family tradition that goes back 60 years. A tradition that came to an end two weeks ago.

After trying for months, Hopkins couldn’t come to an agreement with the US  Postal Service to carry the mail. The disagreement stems from the way Hopkins transports mail in his delivery van.

As part of the new contract, the postal service is enforcing a policy that the mail must be secured in a container with nothing else in it. According to Steve Doherty, a postal service spokesman, the vehicle, in this case, is Hopkins’ van. Read more