Gas residents resist USPS proposal

GAS — Tempers flared Wednesday afternoon at the news the hours of the post office here will be substantially reduced.
Kevin Billings, a postal officer for the 667-zip code area, said likely hours at Gas would be 8 a.m. to noon weekdays and no change on Saturday, remaining 8 to 8:45 a.m.
Billings was showered with comments, some invective, during the meeting that announced Gas and LaHarpe post offices have been designated as four-hour offices. That means the Gas office, open seven hours weekdays and 45 minutes on Saturday mornings, will be limited to four hours a day starting sometime in January.
All 30 people who crowded into the Gas office opposed reduced hours and said afternoon hours are necessary.
April Stierwalt, resident, encouraged, in no uncertain terms, the postal service should “take us into consideration. We’re profitable. Let us vote” on whether to reduce hours.
Billings had pointed out a nationwide study of 13,000 post offices in small towns led to a decision not to close any — Neosho Fall’s was about to be last year —  but that hours would be cut by two, four or six hours a day. No numbers were made available as to the financial soundness of the post offices discussed.
Several people said having the post office open in the afternoon was important to their mail habits, mostly for businesses in and near Gas.
“We have at least 20 businesses,” said Pat Spencer, former Gas postmaster. “And they’re not mom-and-pops.”
She mentioned the town’s banks, Nelson Quarries and Central Publishing, situated on the east edge of Iola but a long-time customer of the Gas office.
“We spend $50,000 a year here,” said Linda Bass of Central Publishing.
If office hours were curtailed it would be difficult for the company to meet schedules, she said.
“We won’t use the Iola office, or Humboldt,” said Bass, with resolve.
Debbie Curry said she used the office frequently to mail statements from Bank of Gas, as did Phyllis Nelson, about mass mailings from Nelson Quarries.
“We have $27,000 in our bulk mailing machine,” Nelson said, and allowed it would last only a year’s time.
Those comments brought discussions back to profitability, which Spencer assured the Gas office enjoyed.
She noted the office, serving a town of about 500, had 200 dedicated postal boxes, and handled a heavy volume of mail each day.
“I think we should be judged on the business our office does,” Spencer said, and not lumped in with many other small ones across the nation. “If our post office is profitable, why mess with it?”

BRANDON Bohning, liaison in U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins’ Topeka office, tried to soothe tensions but instead pushed up the level of discontent.
He pointed out the federal government had no control over the Postal Service, that it essentially was a private business. Which, he added, was why as a business model it was attempting to restructure to save money.
Billings pointed out nationally, business volume had decreased by 27 percent in six years ending in 2011, to 930 million retail visits. That meant less income and, in concert with rising costs of operation, led to the decision to curtail hours at 13,000 smaller offices, he said. Some larger ones have closed.
Gas patrons weren’t happy with their office being thrown in with others in the small-town category. They railed about not having the local office’s profit being identified and used to determine whether it should be affected by cost-cutting measures.
Billings was a study of composure throughout his hour-plus in Gas, shedding criticism without changing expression.
“I’m hear to let people have their say,” he said, and was resolute in saying he had no role in deciding which office’s hours were to be cut and could make no alterations.
“I only can carry back comments,” he said.
He handed out the telephone number for the Postal Service’s National Consumer Affairs office, 202-268-3996, and its email address, darrin.r.gadson@usps.govt. But, he gave no encouragement that contacting the office would make a difference.

THE RESPONSE by patrons at Neosho Falls was sedate by any comparison.
The office there will continue to be open two hours a day, 10 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
When Billings mentioned that the Neosho Falls office at been slated for closing before a change in national USPS attitudes, he noted that still could occur.
“Could it close down the road? I don’t know,” he said.
Billings also said nationally the Postal Service was working toward discontinuing Saturday services, a change that would have to find favor in Congress because of its charter.

NEARLY ALL attendees at the LaHarpe meeting late Wednesday afternoon agreed on the hour change, but not without some input for Billings.
New hours for the LaHarpe post office will be reduced to 8 a.m. to noon on weekdays as well, with Saturday’s schedule remaining 9:30-11:30 a.m. The USPS sent 329 surveys to people living in LaHarpe’s service area; 103 were returned. Of the ballots, 88 people voted for the hour change.
About 20 citizens crowded the small LaHarpe lobby, concerned about how cost-cutting would affect service to the community. Several people suggested different ways to save, including using natural gas in USPS vehicles. One attendee chimed in, “I have a horse and buggy.”
Billings responded to all of their comments, and summed up his points on an encouraging note.
“I want the USPS still to remain a presence in the community, and to keep providing a service to the community,” Billings said.
(Register reporter Steven Schwartz contributed to his report.)