Posted on 07/09/2009 4:19:09 PM PDT by JavaJumpy
U.S. Postal Service officials are considering closing 33 post office branches in the Columbus area in an effort to control costs.
Nationwide, more than 3,000 branches in 396 cities -- including Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland -- are on the list.
The Postal Service is bleeding $20 million a day. "That's unprecedented; that's almost unheard of," said Kathy Lucas, spokeswoman for the Postal Service's Columbus district.
"We have not had to do any layoffs, and that's why we are taking every possible step we can."
Postal Service officials say nothing is etched in stone.
"Everything is preliminary now," Lucas said.
In a July 2 filing to the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Postal Service outlined its plan to consolidate what it considers larger, underused branches.
No changes will be made before Oct. 2.
"Everything is based on traffic and demand," Lucas said. "If that office has a lot of business, that's an office we are least likely to close."
Herb Sharfenaker, a mail carrier for 45 years, expects some outcry from the public if locations are closed.
"You're talking about closing down some post offices that have been there for generations," said the 66-year-old, who delivers mail in the Ohio State University area.
"It all boils down to, they don't care about the public anymore, and all they're worried about is numbers," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dispatchpolitics.com ...
Why not just delete saturday delivery?
Canada is from Monday to Friday BUT rumors are the Corp. wants to do away with door to door and go to community group boxes from coast to coast not just in rural routes.
Used to be the rule that when they shut down your post office they made you change your address. People always had a fit over that ~ kind of an IDENTITY CRISIS. Politicians and news media types couldn't deal with the problem on that basis so they'd say "It's service, those poor people are losing service" ~ and all it was about was an involuntary change of address.
I was there the day Ann (Kernan) Robinson and I gave PMG William Bolger a little presentation that led to the conclusion that, lo and behold, we had no need to force an address change on people so they could keep on using the old town name.
Ann, though, still wanted to change their ZIP Codes.
So, Bill Bolger ordered that it be done and it was done.
What I'm concerned with is the other 283 tiny post offices within 50 miles of Columbus that ARE NOT being closed down.
You have to close them too so you can regularlize the rural delivery service headout offices and start getting a handle on those costs as well.
There are millions in savings to be made and as usual the USPS management is letting the bucks be pissed away down the ditch.
Services are not being cut. I assure you those tiny branches and NCD offices provide NO SERVICE superior to that of a rural letter carrier.
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A rural letter carrier doesn’t weigh my package and offer suggestions or options. A rural letter carrier can’t pick up my military packages because they have customs forms, and I can’t use the APS for that, either. The largest branches can have a 30 minute wait after work and on Saturdays; when the smaller ones close, don’t you think the wait will be even longer?
Many rural letter carriers do it the other way around ~ leave money with the packages in your curbside box and they'll bring back the change.
All of them are welltrained in the use of customs decs, APO peculiarities, and can deliver stamps by mail (been in place since I was but a wee lad of 32!).
Those little post offices scattered about the countryside distort delivery services and delay your mail.
I wouldn’t mind if the USPS went the way of the Edsel! I believe their time and purpose has come and gone. Their service is terrible. The employees know their jobs are gold for as long as they want them so we get half-a@@ed service a lot of the time. I rarely use US mail now since you can pay bills online, e-mail, and e-cards! Most of what comes in the mail is junk mail anyway and goes straight to the trash.
Ohio was a great state. They even made machine tools there - once upon a time when America was great.
From the "Customer Guide to Mailing, page 18
" If your item weighs
more than 13 ounces, and you have
affixed postage stamps, you must
take it to the Post Office."
Not saying my post office shouldn't be closed, but with my drive distance going from 14 miles to 40 miles is going to change things for me.
I remember when that rule was adopted, immediately after 9-11. It is a pain in the butt for me too, but is a safety precaution against mail bombs.
If you are NOT laying people off, then most certainly are NOT taking every possible step! Typical Orwellian government double-speak.
You’ll find that in “rural America” you can depend on your rural letter carrier to provide you with that “take it to the office” service.
I’ll admit I’m not entirely clear on what I can and can’t do. Are you saying I can leave my 8 lb Parcel Post box for the mailman to pick up?
I’ve never even tried it after reading the rule I posted.
I do live out in the sticks, like it that way, but mail is a bit of a hassle.
A registered letter, which I receive very few of, is usually a 2 hour ordeal, or wait 2 days for the mailman to return with it.
What you want to do is read: http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/601.htm#wp1064962
Note that anything you mail is considered Haz-mat until you demonstrate/claim that it is otherwise.
Note that anything mailed with postage stamps (only) is considered First-Class Mail or Priority Mail (depending on weight).
All First-Class Mail or Priority Mail may be transported by air. The Haz-Mat standards for Air Transport are different than the Haz-Mat standards for Surface Transport.
If you mail parcels at other than First-Class Mail rates on a recurring basis you might want to see what other methods are available for paying postage ~ e.g. meters, electronic postage, permit imprint, etc.
Your rural letter carrier will be happy to 'splain it all and discuss with you what you might want to do as will the postmaster or his/her designee at the nearest post office.
Remember, just because a rule says you can't do something, don't believe it ~ frequently there's a trick in there ~ like "stamps only" ~ and there's a way around that.
j/k
I live near two small towns located in a rural area. These two small towns, more like bumps in the road, each have their own post office about a half mile apart. I always thought what a waste of money to keep them both open?
Columbus, Ohio is the 14th or 15th largest city in the nation - I don’t know how many of the carriers are rural.
I stand corrected on a rural carrier helping out with boxes for customs forms.
It can be a wide area ~ in the case of "Columbus", they likely mean a huge chunk of central Ohio.
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