Scott Swanson
The Postal Service announced last week that it intends to take another look at its plan to close about 3,700 offices that it says are unprofitable, after taking a battering on Capitol Hill and from rural residents on the issue. Now, it says, it intends to offer communities the opportunity to keep the offices open, but with reduced window hours.
Offices on the list for consideration for reduced hours include Foster and Crawfordsville. Cascadia, which is slated for possible closure and burned down last November, is not on the list.
Jean Burger, who is known as the unofficial “mayor” of Cascadia and has led the campaign to get a post office back in the community, said the new plan could make things tougher for local residents.
“It’s a terrible detriment to the community,” she said of the lack of a local Post Office. “Some people didn’t even get ballots. I gave them the number to call to get ballots.”
Burger said that some residents have switched to other people’s addresses because they can’t afford to drive to Foster to pick up their mail at the Post Office there, where postal boxes that used to be located at Cascadia have been moved.
The Postal Service said it will file a new plan before the Postal Regulatory Commission, detailing the options it intends to offer small towns before post offices are closed. The revisions could include establishing postal services in libraries, other government offices or stores.
The Postal Service had planned on shuttering 3,700 rural offices. But Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said Wednesday strong community opposition led to a change of direction.
The new plan is to cut costs by reducing full-time staffing and hours of operation in up to 13,000 rural communities. Some 21,000 postmasters will also be offered buyouts. Estimates are that the revised plan would save $500 million annually.
Local Post Office officials could not be reached for comment.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Portland, has voiced opposition to closing rural post offices and has been working to get a trailer returned to Cascadia, but Burger said she hasn’t heard that he’s made progress. She said the trailer that burned last year was supposed to be temporary when it was installed 20 years ago. Prior to that, the Post Office had been located at the Armstrong Store on Cascadia Drive, she said.
Burger said that if Foster Post Office hours are cut, it will be even harder for Cascadia residents to get mail.
“They either need to give us our Post Office back and let us continue on our merry way, or deliver to the entire community,” she said. “We can only get mail when (Foster Postmaster) Bob (Barnes) is behind the counter because those boxes are pretty small. If they cut the hours, unless they leave the lobby open 24/7, we’ll all be driving to I-5 to get our mail. We’ll all be up the same crick.
“I just pray they’ll give our Post Office back, seeing it was not shut down, not closed. We just had a fire.”