40 Post Offices here on the chopping block. Anyone else?

[Straitlover]

I don't follow. We've got a larger population and I don't see any reason to assume that our one post office will remain open.

Her town is the county seat. All the county gov't offices are there (courthouse, sherrif's office, tax office, etc). I can only imagine the stink they (county gov't) would raise if they tried to close the only PO there! They would close the ones in the surrounding small towns first and make them have to travel to her town.

 

[bicker]

Oh! That make sense. Thanks.

 

[of the seas]

Yes. They leave you a slip in your mailbox and then you have to take that to the PO to get the package.

Actually, you don't have to go to the PO for that. You can fill out the back of that peach slip of paper(sign it, print name and address and the left side of the paper)and leave it in your box and it will be redelivered in a couple days.

 

[bicker]

Sometimes an adult signature, in person, is required.

Same with some certified mail.

 

[Ohiodislover]

Do people really go to the PO to pick up their packages? Isn't the point of the mail to deliver your packages

Sometimes you have to sign for a package/letter in person, and can't sign and have it left at the door. Sometimes I have rec'd items that I don't WANT left at the door, because of the value of the item. We often pick up packages from USPS, and UPS, rather than having them left.

I thought that the PO would still be open some hours on Sat. It is just mail delivery that would be cut. It would be bad if we can't go on Saturday. DH can sometimes go during lunch, but the lines are so long, he has had to leave before he gets waited on because he needs to get back.

 

[OhMari]

Do people really go to the PO to pick up their packages? Isn't the point of the mail to deliver your packages

In our small town, we always received a yellow card, and it explained what kind of package or letter needed to be picked up at the post office. It could be anything from an over sized catalogue to a package that didn't fit in the cluster box. But within the last year, I noticed our mail carrier bringing packages to our front doors. My Gap/Old Navy Order was sitting at my front door last week, and I didn't have to sign anything.

Sometimes an adult signature, in person, is required.

Same with some certified mail.

I've been married 28 years, and the only certified mail I ever received was from WDW. I won Mickey Ears from YOAMD and I had a certified postcard and had to go to our post office and sign for the box. By the 2nd year, Disney stopped sending certified postcards. I actually won 4 Mickey Ears and 2 WDW laynards.


Did you know that small town post offices are not owned by the Postal Service? Post Offices rent out the buildings from the private sector. I know the family in our small town, and my dh company owns the building in the little town he works in.

 

[bicker]

We get certified mail all the time, typically from the town, regarding municipal hearings pertaining to neighbors seeking permits to make changes to their property or structures, or the town seeking to make changes to roadways or sidewalks.

I think the fact that the post office rents so many venues focuses on the element of cost, and therefore means those venues are more likely to be the ones aimed for closure (especially in a down real estate market!)

 

[of the seas]

Sometimes an adult signature, in person, is required.

Same with some certified mail.

A signiture on the back of that peach slip is an exceptable signature. If you sign and fill out the back and put it in the box it will be redelivered in a couple days.

 

[LilyWDW]

A signiture on the back of that peach slip is an exceptable signature. If you sign and fill out the back and put it in the box it will be redelivered in a couple days.

No, sometimes you ARE required to pick up at the office. Trust me, I have had to do it. They would not allow it to be left without getting that signature in person. Don't know what the difference is that causes that, but it DOES happen.

 

[onelilspark]

Here's a list of the offices on the proposed list:

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/post-office-closings-2009-complete-list-post-offices-close

Does anyone know if they close offices will all of the people at that location lose their job or will they move people around based on seniority. Meaning that newer hires at open locations will be let go.

Thank you for posting this! I saw on our news that there were 3 Rochester area offices closing, but they only mentioned one location! I've been searching everywhere trying to find out the other 2! I live right next to one but there's a few within a 4 mile radius, so I wouldn't have been surprised if they closed the one next to me. But they're not.

 

[bicker]

No, sometimes you ARE required to pick up at the office. Trust me, I have had to do it. They would not allow it to be left without getting that signature in person. Don't know what the difference is that causes that, but it DOES happen.

Yes, precisely. Typically, you can leave a signature for things that are insured (because the signature absolves the post office of the insurance liability), but you cannot leave a signature for things that require legal proof of receipt.

 

[of the seas]

I am a mail carrier. If the person signs the back and fills out the form, we always redeliver it for them. Maybe there are different rules in other places. We don't require anone to come to the PO to pick up a certified or anything on those lines. We will always redeliver if asked to.

 

[bicker]

Welcome to Massachusetts, where everything is more bureaucratic!