Jul 14, 2014 4 min read

If you live in Atlasburg, Amity, Cokeburg, Ellsworth, Scenery Hill or Vestaburg, mailing a package could require more planning in the near future. Post offices in these towns are just a few that could face reduced hours as part of the U.S. Postal Service’s two-year plan to cut costs by cutting window hours at small – usually rural – postal locations.

Residents who use post offices facing potential cuts will receive a letter from the Postal Service and a survey with four options to choose from regarding the future status of their post office. Those survey results are revealed at a community meeting, and meetings regarding the six area post offices – all in Washington County – are scheduled in July and August.

Postal Service spokesman Tad Kelley said the process of reducing office hours has been under way since September 2012 to offset financial losses. He said this approach has kept 13,000 small post offices open that otherwise would have been forced to close altogether.

“At the same time, we are actively seeking interest from small businesses within communities who may wish to open village post offices – providing many of the products we serve at traditional post offices – to complement the plan,” Kelley said in an email.

The first of the most recent batch of community meetings in Washington County will be held 6 p.m. July 28 at the Slovan VFW for a proposal to cut hours at the Atlasburg post office in Smith Township.

Atlasburg is one of five post offices in the township, and three already have faced hour reductions.

“They always said Atlasburg was in pretty good shape, and I’m surprised to hear that,” Thomas Schilinski, township supervisors chairman, said when he learned that the Atlasburg post office could face cuts.

Schilinski said the Postal Service faced resistance in the past when it cut hours at other post offices in Smith Township.

“The people that live in these little villages, they like their post offices,” Schilinski said. “When you reduce them, you only have (certain) hours to go there and get your package, and if someone’s not at the window, you can’t receive it.”

Barbara Kubena, a Cokeburg councilwoman, said there is no mail delivery in the borough, so she hopes the post office will stay open, even if it means having reduced hours.

“It’s been discussed for the last few years, so it’s sort of been something that every year we would hold our breath and say, ‘Oh, OK, is this the year that they’re going to make the cut for Cokeburg?'” Kubena said.

A meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Cokeburg VFD for a proposal to cut daily hours at the Cokeburg post office from eight hours to four hours.

Kubena said she believes that closing the post office would hurt Cokeburg more than a town like Scenery Hill, which has postal delivery.

“Here in Cokeburg, this would be such a drastic change because since the town started, that’s all (residents have) done,” she said. “They’ve gone to the post office and did all their mailings from there.”

Other meetings are:

• 5:30 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Amwell Township VFD for a proposal to cut daily hours at the Amity post office from eight hours to four hours.

• 6:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Ellsworth VFC for a proposal to cut daily hours at the Ellsworth post office from eight hours to six hours, and a proposal to cut daily hours at the Scenery Hill post office from eight hours to four hours.

• 5:30 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Vestaburg Sewage Authority for a proposal to cut daily hours at the Vestaburg post office from eight hours to four hours.