Maria Smith
June 15, 2008 12:01 am
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Phil Jones compares it to playing a baseball game.
Sure, it doesn’t sound bad when your opponents only score a run an inning, but when it’s the bottom of the ninth and your team’s down by nine runs, the odds aren’t in your favor.
That’s his concern when it comes to the U.S. Postal Service and its decision to eliminate Saturday hours at the Virginia Avenue and Cresaptown post offices effective last month. He sees it as one step in the eventual closing of both.
“The big thing is we feel this is just the beginning, the tip of the iceberg,” Jones, president of American Postal Workers Union Local 513, said. “First it’s Saturday and then they’ll deem Virginia Avenue and Cresaptown offices no longer a vital cog in post office operations.”
Freda Sauter, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Postal Service, said while the Saturday situation appears permanent, those offices will remain open.
“No, we have no plans to close those offices at all,” she said.
Jones said the post office originally was designed as a service agency but now that’s no longer the thinking. Instead, it’s about making a profit — from each office.
He said the agency is citing a Window Operations Survey to justify stopping those Saturday services. The Postal Service has said those offices only see about five to 10 customers on Saturday. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, he found the survey indicates the census is more in the neighborhood of 35 to 51 customers.
It also doesn’t make sense for the Postal Service to keep an employee at both places Saturdays to sort and box the mail but not have them available to provide counter service, he said.
Sauter said many people don’t realize the Postal Service does not receive tax dollars and relies solely on selling stamps, services and products to cover all its expenses, including salaries and benefits to more than 700,000 workers.
“We’re looking at all operations because of fuel going up,” she said. “Every time it goes up 1 cent, it’s a cost to the post office of $8 million annually. But unlike our competitors, we don’t add a fuel charge for delivery.”
Jones and others feel like it may be the start of another battle that comes not long after an exhausting nearly two-year fight to keep the consolidation of Cumberland’s distribution center from happening.
The Postal Service moved the Saturday mail from Cumberland to Frederick for processing in June 2005. In January 2006, it announced Cumberland was targeted for possible consolidation and an Area Mail Processing study was under way.
In May 2007, the Postal Service officially ended the study and decided to keep the weekday mail here. Saturday mail, however, now goes to Baltimore.
Jones credits the support of everyone from the community, city, county and state officials as well as retired U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes and Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin in keeping those services here.
Cumberland Mayor Lee Fiedler said although he has been told by the Postal Service the offices won’t close, he understands that the agency has the right to do what it deems necessary. He’s already sent a letter that backs up his stance as to why the office is needed in the Virginia Avenue corridor.
In his letter dated May 23, the mayor emphasizes the changes coming to the avenue and the need for postal services. It’s expected that 62 new residential spaces will be provided in the surrounding area and the three-year job projection is 81 full-time employees will relocate or start up there.
Fiedler notes the city is preparing to invest millions of dollars within the corridor and “it would be a shame to enhance ‘The Corridor’ to only have a vital source, the postal service” downgraded or closed.
“We are asking you to take a long, hard look at the current service levels at this location and keep in mind the projected future enhancements and growth that is inevitable before any decisions are made,” he wrote. “Growth in our area will not be possible without competitive service, and closing the Virginia Avenue postal location altogether would be devastating to our future plans for this area.”
For now, Sauter encourages people to use the Web site, www.usps.com, which “never closes” and offers the ability to do everything that can be done at the counter.
Jones said that doesn’t work and many people in those corridors don’t have a computer, may be senior citizens or don’t have transportation to the other offices. And what about those who have to sign for a package or registered mail? If the customer receives a notice at home on Friday, it will be Monday before he can get it.
Contact Maria Smith at msmith@times-news.com.
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