❒ Fiscal woes of U.S. mail delivery system won’t lead to shuttering of Benicia location

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Benicia’s post office is not among the 3,700 recommended for closure nationwide by the U.S. Postal Service.

“That’s great news,” Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said Wednesday upon learning the post office was not targeted for closure as a cost-cutting measure by the financially beleaguered national service.

“It’s the right decision. I can’t imagine making another decision.”

“I’m happy to hear we’re not losing our post office,” Vice Mayor Alan Schwartzman also said Wednesday.

“Since we only have one, losing it would be detrimental to the community.”

“I’m happy,” Councilmember Tom Campbell said. “I can’t imagine us losing it.”

Unlike those offices that made the list, Campbell said, the Benicia office “has such heavy use.”

Not only does the post office, 290 East L St. near City Hall, have regular lobby hours, it also is open after the lobby is closed so patrons can use its machines to buy stamps and weigh and secure postage for parcels.

“And it’s a relatively new post office,” Campbell added. “It was built 20 years ago, which is new for the post office.”

Several Bay Area cities have found some of their post offices on the list released by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe earlier this week.

They are Colma, in Daly City; Bayview, Civic Center, the Federal Building, McLaren Station and Visitacion in San Francisco; Linden, in South San Francisco; Colonnade, in San Jose; and Byron Rumford and Eastmont in Oakland.

Some of the other offices that made the list serve small or remote communities or specialty areas, such as the Yosemite Lodge Post office in Yosemite National Park.

Since five of San Francisco’s offices may soon be shuttered, it’s clear large cities aren’t immune to the recommended closures.

For instance, Los Angeles has six post offices on the list.

“I think we’re lucky,” Councilmember Mike Ioakimedes said. “It’s a good thing.

“I think we can all anticipate changes in the Postal Service in the future,” he added, but said he was glad Benicians would continue to have the services and amenities of its own post office.

Donahoe is recommending the closures, saying, “The Postal Service of the future will be smaller, leaner and more competitive.”

Closures are expected to begin in January, and Donahoe said most will be of offices that have so few customers average daily sales are less than $50.

He said the service also is considering other measures to close a $20 billion gap in revenue by 2015, such as reducing service to five days a week.

The Postal Service reported a net loss of $8.5 billion in 2010, far steeper than the $3.8 billion it lost the previous year. Its last quarter report alone recorded a $2.2 billion loss.

The closures may save the service $200 million, but could impact between 4,000 and 4,500 postal employees, from postmasters to supervisors to clerks, Donahoe said. Some may shift to new postal jobs, but others would become unemployed, he said.

The service has about 574,000 employees at this time, according to Dean Granholm, vice president of delivery and post office operations.

Donahoe said despite the trims, the service “will continue to drive commerce, serve communities and deliver value.”

He said the Postal Service expects to open 2,500 places it calls “village post offices” in local businesses to accommodate places where the larger offices were closed or that had no previous postal service.

These would be operated by the local retailer, Donahoe said.

Patterson hailed that move as harkening back to an earlier post office practice that meant people could buy stamps or send letters locally, rather than have to drive a long distance to another community.

“It’s the right thing to do,” she said.

“Our customer’s habits have made it clear they no longer require a physical post office to conduct most of their postal business,” Donahoe said.

Among its research programs, the Postal Service has been conducting a multi-year research study, called Household Diary Study, that asks a sample group of 5,200 households each year to keep a week-long record of the mail sent and received at participants’ homes.

“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.

“More and more of them are choosing to conduct their postal business online, on their smart phone and at their shopping destinations,” Donahoe said.

“And that means the need for us to maintain nearly 32,000 retail offices has diminished.”