The US Postal Services is set to close post offices all over the country. On the local level it's the Seventh Avenue PO plus others in Brooklyn that are facing their demise.
Anyone who has ever walked by the Seventh Avenue PO knows how crowded it always is. It's not the most efficient place in the world but it's obviously a heavily used resource in this community. What are people supposed to do without a post office? Sure you can buy stamps online but what about packages.
People are wondering what they can do to fight this. Who should they call or write to make their opposition known?
Some thoughts:
Let's get our local elected officials on the case. Obviously we need to send word to our Borough President Marty Markowitz (who likes to think of himself as everyone's closest link to big government).
Next: Councilmembers David Yassky and Bill deBlasio, who both represent parts of Seventh Avenue, should be on the case explaining what's going on.
And then: Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6, could also be of help.
From there: The Mayor.
Maybe some of the City Council candidates have some BIG IDEAS about how to stop this from happening.
And then there's Bill C. Thompson and Tony Avella, candidates for Mayor.
Hellooooooooo out there. Anyone know how to stop this???? Anyone want to explain what's going on?
Thanks for this coverage. No doubt a further step, for better or worse, in the privatizing of public services. Interesting how the USPS is as close to the Federal government as most folks get (unless they are getting a social security check (in the mail!), applying for or renewing a passport (also at the P.O.) or serving on a Federal jury.)
I wonder how many folks currently use private mail services now, anyway, to save time. The Cadman PLaza post office, which in the past had some nightmarishly long lunch time waits, has seemed, in recent months, to have wonderfully speeded things up, with Postal staff “working the line” to help folks complete required forms, etc. before getting to the window. Kudos there.
Contact Yvette Clarke and Chuck Schumer.
Clarke: http://clarke.house.gov/contactform_zipcheck.shtml or (718) 287-1142.
Schumer: http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm or (212) 486-4430.
Yes, the service at the 7th Avenue branch leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s light years better than at the 9th Street branch. And having a convenient local post office shouldn’t be a luxury — especially for seniors or people with limited mobility.
For packages we have the various storefronts which specialize in sending packages. I’m more concerned about the exotic types of mailing (registered, certified, to foreign destinations) which one needs the Post Office for. I’d take the bus to Cadman Plaza rather than dealing with the 9th St. PO.
Thanks for the suggestions – I’ve emailed all of them. Hope a lot of others do too.
let the post office close – a privately run “mail boxes etc.” can sell stamps and provide more shipping options better than the post office anyway. The post office is such an anachronistic phenomenon. there is no incentive for good customer service. The people that work there are uniformly miserable. Let it close.
I’ve lived in 11231 without a post office for 8 years. There’s one at the senior center on Court St but I’m only 30. There’s also a shipping store on Henry but still.
The post office is federal (duh!) I doubt city officials will be able to do anything about this. Maybe the kid, Squadron, since he’s a close personal friend of Chuckie Schumer with Rolodex access. But with all Schumer has going on on any given day, he’ll just tell you need to call Clarke since all appropriations start there anyway. (Although Bloomy does spend some time in DC now and again, but usually to dig up some big pork money for “security” type stuff. If you could by some miracle convince Bloomy that having a post office would bring economic development and give him another chance to poke the feds in the eye…he may take the cause if well organized.)
Get on Yvette Clarke’s case. As a sometimes “lobbyist” when I got appointments with Major Owens in DC, I always spent half my time talking about my post office problems. Major, now retired, didn’t look like he had got off his office couch for at least a decade. All he had to do was find someone on the committee and get the postmaster general to get a site through the GSA (I think POs are managed through the GSA but I’m not entirely sure.) Seriously, you gotta go to Clarke on this. My grandparents live on a dirt road in New England and can get to the Post Office easier than I can.
Also – talk to the feds:
http://parkslopepolitics.blogspot.com/2009/07/park-slope-post-office-closings-who-to.html
The Postal Service is facing a huge budget gap. The volume of either “stamped mail” (however that is defined) or first class mail (I’ve seen different articles using one or the other of those terms) is down to levels last seen in 1964. The growth of “Standard Mail” (it used to be called third class mail), junk mail, is down from what the Postal Service had projected. So the Postal Service is in a hole.
And it’s not only Post Office closings that are in the offing. The Postal Service is even thinking of making deliveries only five days a week.
This is the backdrop for what is going on now.
The USPS is facing HUGE deficits. In other words, they spend more money then they bring in. They can raise rates, or get more efficient. Closing retail locations, even if they are popular, when there are other options nearby might be a good start.
It stinks, I agree, but better that then an increase in the cost of a stamp.