Instead of being able to do business during what was traditionally one of its busiest months of the year, the EMU Post Office has posters declaring “ATTENTION: THIS POST OFFICE IS CLOSED” plastered across its windows.
The United States Postal Service said it had taken community effects into consideration when announcing the closure. But the organization still refuses to provide concrete financial justification, other than claims of lack of traffic and decreased business.
“I dare the USPS to say they evaluated the effects in the University community,” said Ken Rosemarin, the EMU post office’s lead sales and services associate (ODE, “EMU post office closing doors in December,” Oct. 21, 2010). “I have seen no effort to save this post office, only efforts to get rid of it.”
USPS should, above all, keep the convenience and respect of its customers at the heart of its plans if it wants to remain in business. That’s why the Emerald fully supports ASUO President Amelie Rousseau’s efforts to petition the Post Office’s closure and to retain its important services on campus.
In December, University Senate President Nathan Tublitz sent a letter to U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, asking them to reverse the closure on the basis that the Post Office actually fields a significant amount of traffic every day.
The letter helped keep the Post Office open through Jan. 14, and now the closure is pending review by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Other post offices do exist around campus, so students are at least not forced to go to the next nearest Post Office at Fifth Avenue and Willamette Street for service.
The Duck Store at 13th Avenue and Kincaid Street has been working to fill the void left by the EMU Post Office. The Duck Store operates a fully functioning Post Office out of its Customer Service desk in the back of the store.
The only services it doesn’t provide that the EMU did are post office boxes and the capacity to ship international packages.
Alma Hesus, marketing manager for the Duck Store, said she has already seen an increase in business since the EMU Post Office’s closure last Friday and that the Duck Store added first-class mail and overseas letter capacities to better serve the campus community. And although the Duck Store does not have the capacity to send overseas packages, UPS operates at the same desk and can provide that service.
Hesus said she understands why students and community members would be frustrated with the closure. “I used to go there back when I came there as a student,” Hesus said. “It was just so convenient and so nice.” Still, the Hirons Drug next to Market of Choice on Franklin Boulevard also has a working post office.
Although the Duck Store and Hirons offer viable alternatives — at least for sending mail — the EMU Post Office’s closure still leaves the problem of student groups and other campus departments receiving mail in a prompt and efficient manner.
EMU assistant director Donna Leavy said the closure affects how her office sorts incoming mail for EMU groups and offices.
At the EMU Post Office, campus departments and offices had P.O. boxes to receive their mail, and the departments would walk over to pick up their mail for the day.
Now, instead of incoming U.S. mail coming onto campus every day, all incoming mail is being diverted to the UO campus mail center, which is actually downtown in the University’s Baker Center at E. 10th Avenue and High Street. Leavy said she hopes the closure won’t affect mail delivery for much longer.
“We’ve got to figure something out. Because I think it’s a lot of work on the mail center,” Leavy said.
According to 2010 financial reports, the USPS has been steadily losing money, and closing the EMU Post Office is an attempt to stanch that loss. However, because the United States Postal Service is a quasi-governmental agency, it is not required by law to release specific financial data about individual post office health to the public or the media.
Still, without this financial information, University students and community members have no data to assess the Postal Service’s decision and cannot make a fair judgment of the situation.
The USPS is only hurting itself by not disclosing its full financial data.
This isn’t the first time the USPS has voiced concerns about its financial sustainability. A year ago, Portland-based Postal Service customer relations coordinator Ron Anderson announced that the Eugene Main Post Office at Fifth Avenue and Willamette Street would be looking for a more affordable building. No further news has developed regarding the sale, but it is further evidence that the Postal Service needs to fundamentally change its practices to keep customers, rather than cutting services across the board.
The United States Postal Service has a duty to its community to show clear financial evidence proving the need to close any offices that may affect customers, regardless of the alternatives available. Full disclosure of financial data, decision-making processes and their subsequent effects on other nearby Post Offices is necessary for the University’s students, faculty, staff and community to deem this closure appropriate and necessary.
Until the University of Oregon community is provided with the necessary information, students and administration should continue to be vigilant in their efforts to bring back this central campus service.
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Editorial: Community should fight Post Office closure
Daily Emerald
January 19, 2011
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