Hedley Post Office not well utilized, official says

The Hedley Post Office may not be utilized well enough to justify keeping it open, a postal official told citizens there last Wednesday.

“The traffic and revenue just aren’t there,” said Ernest Jones, a regional manager for the US Postal Service, speaking at a town hall meeting at the Hedley Baptist Church.

The Hedley Post Office is about 80 percent underutilized, Jones said.

“I’m paying a guy for eight hours and he’s only got two hours worth of work.”

The fact that the office doesn’t currently have a postmaster also makes it easier to close, Jones said.
But Jones also told the crowd of about 60 that closing the Hedley office was not a done deal.

“There are 56 steps to close a post office, and we’re on step three,” he said, noting that citizen input was important. “You’re here because you care. I had a meeting like this in another town, and no one showed up. That was an easy decision, and the post office was closed.”

Jones began with an overview of the financial condition of the US Postal Service which is hemorrhaging billions of dollars each year. By congressional order, USPS has overpaid $70 billion into its pension plan and continues to be required to make payments to that fund annually. Congress has not provided relief from that requirement and will not refund the overpaid money to the post office.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

“The post office is in the survival game,” Jones said. “Thirty years ago we handled 240 billion pieces of mail a year; now it’s 170 billion. We’ve consolidated districts, and fired upper level management positions. I don’t even know if I’ll have a job next month.”

Following up on Jones’ comment, one Hedley citizen, John Leggit, said the postal service’s problem is bigger than Hedley.

“This is a monumental problem,” Leggit said. “Hedley is not the problem. Leave us alone until the government can fix the problem.”

And several people at last week’s meeting asked Jones why Hedley was being considered for closure when other smaller post offices were still open. Jones replied that those offices, including Lakeview and Quail, are being considered as are about 50 other post offices in his service area from south of Amarillo to down around San Angelo.

In a press release this week, the USPS announced that it considering closing about 3,700 retail offices nationwide.

“As more customers choose to conduct their postal business online, on their smart phones and at their favorite shopping destinations,” the press release said, “the need for the U.S. Postal Service to maintain its nearly 32,000 retail offices — the largest retail network in the country — diminishes.”

If the post office in Hedley is closed, Jones said customers there could get their mail delivered to them by carriers from either Memphis or Clarendon either at their homes or in boxes at a central location, possibly in front of what is now the post office.

Another solution Jones offered is a new concept called a village post office.

The USPS says village post offices would be operated by local businesses, such as pharmacies, grocery stores and other appropriate retailers, and would offer popular postal products and services such as stamps and flat-rate packaging.

Jones said the details village post offices are still being worked out, but he urged Hedley to consider it as a solution.

“Today, more than 35 percent of the Postal Service’s retail revenue comes from expanded access locations such as grocery stores, drug stores, office supply stores, retail chains, self-service kiosks, ATMs and usps.com, open 24/7,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in this week’s press release. “Our customer’s habits have made it clear that they no longer require a physical post office to conduct most of their postal business.”

“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 added.

A community survey and Jones’ report on the Hedley Post Office will now be submitted to the district office and begin making its way up the chain of command. Jones said the future of the office will not be known for 18 to 21 months.