Residents Weighing Options on Post Office Future
By: Eugene Daniel
Updated: January 28, 2013
SOUTH PEKIN - Residents are being told that they can decide the future of
their local post office, but keeping things the same is not an option.
Alberta House has picked
up her mail from the South Pekin post office for the past 17 years.
"In South Pekin,
you get friendly service. Fast, friendly service," she said.
But recently, a letter
from the U.S. Postal Service told her and the rest of the town that this service will soon change. To save
money, the USPS wants to reduce or eliminate thousands of small community post
offices, including South Pekin.
"It just seems
like they always pick on the smaller community. And I don't know why. The
communities are suffering now," said resident Dennis Hoehn.
However, residents do have some say in what
happens. USPS mailed surveys to residents with several options: keep the post
office open with reduced hours; close it and have mail delivered to the nearest
post office; or close and receive "home deliveries."
But House says the term
"home deliveries" is not like it sounds.
"The misconception
is that they're going to be home delivery, and that's not the case. The mail's
not going to be delivered to our home," she said.
An USPS representative
confirmed that mail would not be delivered to the residents' homes. Instead residents would likely pick up mail at
a nearby business.
Cindy Holloway was the
local postmaster for 25 years. She
thinks cutting hours would add stress to an already overworked staff, and it
won't really save money.
"There's the cost of the building, the
utility, the salaries; saving one to two hours per day, I think is such a small
cost savings that I fail to see a real value in that," said Holloway.
A USPS representative says reducing hours of
13,000 smaller offices could save up to $500 million per year come 2014. The USPS
is currently in a 5 billion dollar deficit and originally planned on closing
thousands of location until met with community backlash.
South Pekin is one of many communities in Tazewell County expected to see
changes.
A U.S. Postal Service representative says it plans to only cut hours, but
if more than 60 percent of residents vote otherwise, it will consider other
options. A postal service representative
will meet with residents on February 26 at 2 p.m. at the community post office.
