List of Post Offices being reviewed for possible closure

[flintauqua]

This is from the Emporia Gazette of today:

Closings Possible
Three Greenwood County post offices on list of possible closures

Another post office in Greenwood County is on a list of post offices targeted for possible closure.

Piedmont is on a list of 32 rural post offices in Kansas that are under review. The Kansas list has now doubled, with 11 previously announced for possible closure in June.

Post offices in Virgil and Neal in Greenwood County could also be permanently closed because of budgetary woes.

Post offices in Emporia, Americus, Olpe, Admire, Allen, Hartford and Neosho Rapids will be unaffected by this round of closures. There also aren't any slated for closure in Chase, Coffey or Morris counties.

The postal service lost $8.5 billion last year despite cutting costs 9 billion. In the last quarter alone, losses amounted to $2.2 billion.

"The postal service is reviewing virtually all of its facilities to identify inefficiencies or savings," Brian Sperry, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman said in an Associated Press article last month. "Business as usual is not an option."

Piedmont is located eight miles west of Severy. Its population is 222 people.

Virgil's population in the 2010 census was 71 people, a drop of 42 from the 2000 census. Virgil is 11 miles east of Hamilton and 22 miles southeast of Madison.

Neal is located on U.S. Highway 54 about 13 miles east of Eureka. Neal's population is about 65 people.

In addition to the five area post offices targeted for closure, the recently added offices are Abbyville, Alden, Elbing, Elk Falls, Green, Haddam, Havana, Netawaka, Offerle and Olmitz.

Post offices previously put on the list are Bartlett, Cedar Point, Coats, Danville, Freeport, Gueda Springs, Havana, Home, Hudson, Iuka, Lehigh, Milan, Neal, New Cambria, Niotaze, Oketo, Summerfield, Sycamore and Virgil.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2011/jul/12/closings-possible/

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Also, From KAKE:


4 more post offices in northwest Kansas added to review list


HAYS, Kan. - Four more northwest Kansas post offices have been added to a list of rural Kansas post offices being reviewed for possible closure.

Currently, the state is reviewing 32 post offices to discuss possible closures because of the declining amount of mail.

The Hays Daily News reports that Athol, Cedar and Gaylord - all in Smith County - and Brownell, in Ness County, have been added to the list. No decision has been made on the fate of the Alexander Post Office in Rush County, which was already on the list.

All of the five northwest Kansas offices have postmaster vacancies and a workload of less than two hours a day.

The U.S. Postal Service holds community meetings before making any decisions on closure.

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/07/11/1929015/4-more-nw-kan-post-offices-added.html#ixzz1RwaZUCvC

[kshillbillys]

When a town has less than 150 people in it, I think it is fiscally irresponsible to have a post office that is open all day, 5 days a week and a couple of hours on Saturday, when a rural carrier from a neighboring town could deliver the mail to people at their house and that rural carrier also carries stamps with him in case they need it. Upkeep and utilities on the building itself are good reasons to close down a small town post office in a town of less than 150 people, especially in a town with very few businesses and no school. Closing these small offices that make no money but cost the Postal Service plenty is detrimental to me keeping my job for a few more years!

[flintauqua]

Just presenting info from various sources:

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How fast can you close a post office?  Not as fast as the Postal Service would like.  But luckily for the USPS, they have a new computer tool to help them speed up the process.  More on that, but first some background.

Under current law (US Code Title 39) and regulations (Code of Federal Regulations—CFR 39), it takes the Postal Service at least nine months to close a main post office, even less for a station or branch.  (The process is described in this pdf.)

The Postal Service has been lobbying Congress to change the law so that it can speed up this "discontinuance" process, but naturally things are stalled in Congress.

So on March 31, 2011, the Postal Service proposed several changes to the regulations that would "improve the administration of the Post Office closing and consolidation process."  The changes would streamline the procedures and cut at least 30 days, perhaps as many as 76, from the discontinuance process.  They would also make a public hearing about the planned closure, now required, up to the discretion of the USPS.  The Postal Service believes that these are just changes to the regulations and not the law, so they can implement them without Congressional approval.

More at: http://www.savethepostoffice.com/how-fast-can-you-close-post-office

[Janet Harrington]

Jennifer, I do have a question about something. How does a rural carrier handle a package that the customer might want mailed? Do they pick up the package, take it back to the post office, get it weighed, etc., then put a bill in the customer's box the next business day for payment?

My grandparents were on a rural route with Piedmont, but I don't remember Grandma mailing any packages. Just curious.

[kshillbillys]

Janet, I'm not a rural carrier, but in watching them in my office, I would say that usually the person wanting the package mailed puts money in with their package, the carrier then takes it back to the office and has it weighed and rated then takes them their change and receipt the next day. Most of the time though, people have some reason to go to town and just go to the post office on their own or they are running a business (like with eBay) and have their own scales and such. But, using the flat shipping with priority mail now offered by the Postal Service takes all the guesswork out of how much a package will cost. For one flat rate, you just pile everything into the priority mail box and if it fits (meaning closes properly), it ships. Also, people don't even have to go to the post office if that is how they want to mail their items. By going onto the Postal Service website, our customers can order the boxes (free of charge) to be delivered to their home and then just give them to your carrier as a carrier pickup when you are ready to mail!

[Wilma]

Way, way, way, way back when I was a child, if Mother wanted to mail a letter, she just put the 3 pennies in the mailbox with the letter and the mailman took care of the rest.  I remember one day Mother sent me to the mailbox and there, lo and behold, was a letter and 3 pennies.  I excitedly carried them in to Mother only to be sent back to the mailbox with them.  Many, many years later if Mother needed stamps, she would put the money in the mailbox with a note and the mailman would leave her the stamps.  Her mailman out of Piedmont was Hobe Scott.  Perhaps some of you remember him.

[Janet Harrington]

Yes, Mother, I remember Hobe Scott. It was a treat for us to wait for the mailman to put Grandma's mail in the box, then race out there to get that mail and bring it back to the house. Made us feel like big stuff.

Jennifer, Thanks for that response. Since the rural mail carrier can do things like that, the customers in the very small towns will still get the same service. Probably better because the mail may get delivered closer to the house. However; the small towns losing their post offices will make them feel like they don't exist. But business is business.

[Marcia Moore]

     I read something not very long ago that said closing down a post office used to take 22 months, but the process has now been shortened to only 4-1/2 months. 

[flintauqua]

Zipcode map of Kansas:

http://www.myzipcodemap.com/statemaps/KS.PDF

Open the PDF, then blow it up to 200% to read the zip codes.  Wish it had towns on it also, I will try to find one that has both.

[flintauqua]

     I read something not very long ago that said closing down a post office used to take 22 months, but the process has now been shortened to only 4-1/2 months. 

Marcia, check the link in post number three of this thread, it talks about how things have changed, and how the USPS is trying to do things by changing 'regulations' as opposed to changing 'laws' that would require Congressional approval.