On Tuesday, Oct.
23, twelve people gathered in the Cavendish Post Office to learn about the
results of the POST survey, which was mailed to Cavendish postal customers in
September.
Customer visits to
village post offices have been significantly declining across the
country-visits have dropped from 1.2 billion in 2005 to .93 billion in 2011. With
the decline of First-Class Mail volumes and increased alternate access to
postal services through usps.com and more than 70,000 locations, the Postal
Service is studying its retail network of Post Offices to find cost savings in
order to return to financial stability.
After feedback from customers and communities, the Postal
Service has developed a new path that would keep local Post Offices open, but
modify existing operating hours to reflect actual demand. Customers would
retain access to lobby and P.O. Boxes as well as their ZIP Code and community
identity. USPS Fact Sheet New Strategy
Preserves Post Offices in Rural America
The US Postal
Service has started this process by first looking at reducing hours at post
offices that had vacant postmaster positions.
The Cavendish
Post Office has been without a postmaster for the last four and a half years.
Note that the Proctorsville Post Office does have a permanent postmaster, so
will not be studied for reduction in service until 2014.
Of the 356
surveys distributed to Cavendish postal users in September, 129 (36%) were
returned. There was an overwhelming response-99 respondents (77%)-to keep the
post office open with reduced service hours. Eleven (9%) respondents opted for
using a nearby post office, ten (8%) had no preference, seven (5%) preferred a
rural delivery option, and 2 (2%) wanted another post office location in the
village.
After reviewing
the surveys that were returned, and taking into account Postal Service
operational needs, window service hours for Cavendish will most likely be: Monday-Friday
7:30-9:30 am and 3-5 pm and 7-10 am on Saturday. Post office box availability
will continue to remain the same (7:30-5) during the week and on Saturday.
Mail pick up
will not be impacted by the change. Also not impacted are the hours of rural
carriers. However, it is important to note that while these carriers hours will
not change, Amy Skalki, the acting Cavendish postmaster, will not be available
to help sort the rural route mail, so it is possible that on some days, the
mail to rural route boxes will be delivered later than currently.
The date for
changes in window service is most likely sometime in January.
The impact of
the changes will be evaluated on a yearly basis and adjustments will be made
accordingly.
1 comment:
If the hours are cut further, can there be a vending machine to sell stamps in the lobby?
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