Fourteen Vermont post offices are slated to close as the United States Postal Services starts to shrink its retail network.
Offices in Vermont targeted for the study include: Beecher Falls; Cambridgeport; East Ryegate; Florence; Gilman; Granville; Highgate Springs; White River Junction, Lyman location; McIndoe Falls; North Thetford; Rupert; Stockbridge; Websterville and West Newbury.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe explained the decision in a statement released Tuesday. (h) “Our customer’s habits have made it clear that they no longer require a physical post office to conduct most of their postal business,” Donahoe said.
Like many other government-funded services, the USPS budget has faced dramatic financial losses over the last several years. In 2009 the USPS budget was cut by $3.8 billion; the following year, the postal service trimmed a whopping $8.5 billion.
USPS officials are looking for alternatives to closing small post offices. One option they proposed is creating “Village Post Offices” that would be operated by local businesses such as groceries, pharmacies, and other retailers. The statement said that the “retail-replacement” locations for communities affected by the optimization “would offer popular postal products and services such as stamps and flat-rate packaging.”
Tom Rizzo, northern New England’s spokesperson for USPS, said the 14 Vermont post offices were included in the study based on data collected at the national headquarters.
“They were determined by the small amount of foot traffic; the small amount of work hours required in that office,” Rizzo said. “We basically document how much time is used. Almost all of these offices there is very little work that is being done, which doesn’t mean that they are sitting on their butts doing nothing, but it doesn’t take up the full eight hours a day.”
Rizzo added that the offices targeted in the study have brought in a small amount of revenue. Most post offices in the country don’t cover expenses.
Local Vermont postmasters and clerks refused to talk about the closings. According to retired Chester postmaster Eleanor Smith, no one is allowed to discuss it.
“They can’t talk to you about this. If they talked to you like this, they would be fired, so it has to be retired people,” Smith said. “If you’re active and working you keep your mouth shut.”
Smith, a Rutland resident, is a member of the National Association of Postmasters of the United States and she says the USPS is putting so many post offices on the chopping block because “they can’t pay their bills and they are out of money.” Smith said that for some people it will not be an inconvenience but for others it will be devastating.
“When the center of Rutland was closed here just recently they moved the boxes to West Rutland, not very far away, so it wasn’t a big hardship on people from Center Rutland and they were able to use the same address,” Smith said. “But when Sutton, Vermont, was closed last year also and it was much farther that the boxes were moved. Almost everyone went on the rural route and got delivery. And I’ll tell you, rural delivery is not cheap.”
Rizzo did not want to speculate on whether there would be an increase in the number of mailboxes along rural routes.
Smith, who worked for the postal service for 32 years, says the closings are part of a growing trend, and she is concerned for other communities as well.
“They don’t want mortar and bricks, they don’t want buildings, the idea is you can go on the Internet and do your mailing from there,” Smith said. “If they close your post office, it takes the heart right out of a small community.”
There are approximately 32,000 postal retail offices and more than 70,000 third-party retailers where customers can do business with the postal service, but according to Donahoe, that situation is sure to change.
“The Postal Service of the future will be smaller, leaner and more competitive and it will continue to drive commerce, serve communities and deliver value,” Donahoe said.
In a letter Donahoe wrote to Rep. Peter Welch D-Vt., the postmaster general explained the rationale for the closures.
Read the letter from the Postmaster General to Rep. Peter Welch
“The U.S. Postal Service continues to face tremendous financial challenges due to a combination of factors including dwindling First-Class mail volumes, the continued sluggish economy, and significant congressional mandates,” Donahoe wrote in the letter. “We are working diligently to strike a balance between ongoing implementation of aggressive cost-cutting measures and our relentless commitment to provide affordable, secure, and dependable service to all Americans.”
