Exeter residents were informed at a town hall meeting Monday
evening that their post office will have a reduction in hours starting
approximately April 20th.
Todd Case, the Post Office Regional Manager along with
Seward Postmaster Greg Walz, presented the findings of a recent postal survey
in Exeter and announced upcoming changes to the hours the Exeter Post office is
open.
Case spent the majority of the evening reviewing the
financial flaws in the current postal system. He detailed the major
financial loses including the rising gasoline costs, the outdated business
model of the postal system and the future retirement payment issues.
Last year, Case held 34 town halls in Southeast Nebraska
where the Postal Service had planned to eliminate the post office. In
each of those communities, through the appeal process, the postal offices were
retained. “Headquarters (in Washington D.C.) evaluated the appeals and
the workloads in each office and instead of shutting down completely reduced
the work hours.”
Exeter was not one of the communities scheduled to lose
their post office at that time. Case explained that the postal system
created an equation to rank the post offices using their revenue amounts and
their incoming mail volume. This way they were able to evaluate how many
work hours the work load in a post office required. “They found that they
could save $ 500 million dollars per year by reducing hours. Taking all
the options within the constraints given us (by the government) to save as much
as we can and not closing your post office,” explained Case.
Exeter’s proposed hours will be reduced from 8 hours to 6
hours with the new hours Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with
a lunch time from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Saturday from 7:45-9:15 a.m.
Of the 383 surveys mailed in Exeter, 180 were returned and
92 % showed that they wanted a realignment of hours versus closing the post
office. However, Case pointed out, “This is a done deal. I’m going
to be blunt and honest with you. We are going to reduce your hours and
that fact is not going to change.”
Case hopes that one of the 87 career officers in this area
postal system who will have to find another job, retire or be laid off by
September of 2014 will find the six hour job in Exeter appealing. “I’m
not worried about finding someone to cover Exeter. Lynn has done a great
job but I am confident we will find someone to fill this office.”
Case left time for the audience to respond and several were
frustrated by the restrictions that Congress has placed on the postal
system. Case responded “You’re preachin’ to the choir.”
Case also reassured rural customers that there would be no
change to their delivery service unless they come to the post office to buy
stamps and then the new hours would be the only change they would see.
Case also discussed a few options the post office is looking
into to grow revenue, “The package delivery business has grown 14% in the last
year and we are working in a test market to see if same day delivery is a
viable option.”
Another possible avenue for revenue that Case mentioned
involved the toll that email has had on the volume of deliverable mail, “We are
also looking at an electronic postage concept which creates a secure email.”
It was also noted there is a notification at the post office
that the nighttime pick up time in the outside box will change on April 1st
to 4:30 p.m. Unless there are some security issues Case expects the hours
at Exeter to change on April 20th but noted that there would be a 30
day notice posted with the actual hours.
Another audience member asked if there would be preference
given to an applicant with Exeter ties but Case was more concerned about an
applicants business sense. The administrative office for the Exeter post
office is the York postmaster.
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