Kendall residents and community leaders continue to question the U.S. Postal Service’s POST Plan implementation decision which will result in the loss of a full-time post master at the Kendall Post Office.
Orleans County Legislator and Kendall resident Ken DeRoller says the community was notified on August 1, 2014 of the implementation decision, just one day after a well-attended community meeting during which residents made it clear to a local operations manager for the USPS, that they did not want to lose their post master, Ann Piazza.
“What can we do as a community so we can keep Ann?” Kendall Supervisor Tony Cammarata asked at the July 31 meeting.
The USPS operations manager said all comments would be taken into consideration before a decision was made, but postal customers received that decision just a day later, on August 1, in a letter written by Michael T. Weimer, WNY District POST Plan Coordinator.
“I’ve never seen such a turn-around,” DeRoller says.
According to the August 1 decision, under the POST Plan, the Kendall Post Office will provide six hours of window service each weekday. Current Saturday window service hours will not be reduced and access to delivery receptacles will not change as a result of POST Plan realignment of weekday window service hours.
The Postal Service will announce the date of implementation and operational hours of the office at a later date.
DeRoller says he has created a list of five priority items/concerns which he believes the Postal Service should consider to right-size the Kendall Post Office.
“As the overall USPS customer retail visits continue to drop – 27 percent since 2005 – the Kendall Post Office continued to increase its overall revenue by 42 percent over the last two years. This revenue increase should be reflected in a Level 18 Post Office with full post master service,” DeRoller argues.
The fact the Morton Post Office remains open and a financial drain also concerns DeRoller. Morton is 2.9 miles away from Kendall and “remains open two hours a day at an estimated $6600/year lease cost plus 500 hours/year retail operational cost, plus overhead,” he explains and adds the Morton PO is under the oversight of the Hamlin Post Office which is 7.3 miles away.
The Morton Post Office recently received outside PO boxes with new handicapped access to the boxes, but not the service window, he says.
DeRoller says he feels instead of cutting Kendall’s full-time post master, better efficiencies could be created by consolidating or merging Morton and Kendall Post Offices. Morton could possibly keep its zip code with such a move, DeRoller says.
“They don’t understand the market,” he notes of the Postal Service, “they’re not going about it (cutting costs) correctly. They’re not really saving money and are not going to be competitive much longer.”
He says Kendall is not alone in its frustration as “Congress has said (to the Postal Service) you will not close any post offices.”
“We’re not giving up,” DeRoller explains. “I’ve been in touch with Congressman Chris Collins,” and adds that many residents have asked him what is going on at the Post Office.
DeRoller hopes concerned residents will become engaged in an effort to ensure that the Kendall Post Office retains its post master.
Residents can contact Congressman Collins with their concerns or they can call the Postal Service’s Western New York communications official at 716-846-2375.
