Amid cutbacks, local post office could close

By Kelli Cheatham (kcheatham@wsbt.com)

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Post office on west side

The United States Postmaster has issued a list of 677 post offices that may close or face consolidation. The Olive Street branch on South Bend’s west side is one of the 11 Indiana locations on the list. (WSBT photo)

By WSBT News1

SOUTH BEND — The U.S. Postal Service has already made lots of cuts to fight shrinking mail volume and the smaller revenue that comes with it — including fewer collection boxes on street corners, a recommendation from the U.S Postmaster to cut delivery service from six days to five and now a list of 677 post offices that may close or face consolidation.

Eleven of them are in Indiana; one is on South Bend’s west side.

“It’s gonna be a big inconvenience to a whole lot of people,” said Mary Portis, who lives near the Olive Street Branch. “My husband uses it, I use it, my friends use it.”

“There really aren’t many post offices around the airport area,” another man told WSBT.

The Olive St. branch is now part of a study to determine whether it would be smarter to keep it running or shut it down.

Postal Service spokesperson Kim Yates told WSBT the process to determine which locations on the list will stay and which will go is still being developed. But there are still lots of questions — including feasibility, how much it will cut costs, whether it will keep services for customers and whether customers will have alternate post offices where they can go.

The downtown Mishawaka post office is one of many that have scaled back hours — closing 30 minutes early on weekdays and four hours early each Saturday. None of the South Bend locations have done that yet.

E-mail, online bill pay and fewer bulk ads are to blame for a huge decrease in volume and revenue. In fact, last year in the United States, mail volume fell by 9.5 billion pieces. This year it is expected to fall by 28 billion.

“We’re having to do things to cut costs that we haven’t had to do before,” Yates explained.

The other Indiana post offices on the list to close or consolidate are in Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, Gary and Bloomington.

Yates also told WSBT no jobs will be lost with the closings and consolidations. She said workers would likely shift to other buildings and carriers could be moved to other routes.

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