BLUEFIELD — Post office officials have responded to worried residents and business-owners concerned about the shortening of hours at the Federal Street Post Office.
According to Cathy Yarosky, a communications program specialist with the United States Post Office, several factors went in to the postal service’s decision to limit the hours of the Federal Street branch.
“First, and most importantly, our customers need to know that we have no plans to close this office,” Yarosky said. “The decision to reduce retail hours was a business decision based on our data which shows that there is very little foot traffic in this office between the hours of 10 and 11 a.m.”
The financial crisis currently faced by the postal service is one of the reasons hours at the Federal Street post office — and many others across the country — have been limited.
“With the postal service facing its most serious financial challenges in history, we must look for ways to cut costs and save money across the board,” Yarosky said. “Putting people in the right place at the right time will help us do that. This is just good financial management — it's the same thing any other business would do if it was losing money. We have an obligation to be fiscally responsible.”
Yarosky said the use of e-mail and other alternative postal services are the reasons why such financial cutbacks must be made by the office.
“Part of what is causing this decline in retail visits is increased electronic internet activity as well as our increasingly popular alternate postal access services such as stamps by mail, usps.com and carrier pick up,” Yarosky said. “Customers have more ways today of conducting postal business without coming into an actual post office, and we are seeing a decline in retail visits as a result nationwide.”
However, Yarosky wanted to assure downtown residents and business owners that there are no current plans to do away with the Federal Street Post Office.
— Contact Kate Coil at kcoil@bdtonline.com
Local News
August 5, 2010
Postal official explains decision to reduce downtown hours
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