Gibbon Glade residents oppose post office closing
GIBBON GLADE — Residents and the Wharton Township supervisors spoke out against the possible closing of the local post office at a meeting conducted by U.S. Postal Service (USPS) officials Monday evening.
The post office in Gibbon Glade is among 21 local branch offices and 3,650 across the country that the Postal Service is considering closing due to declines in revenue and mail volume.
“We’re not doing well,” said Janet Michulka of the USPS office in Pittsburgh.
She said the USPS has experienced a 14 percent decline in retail revenue and is losing $24 million a day.
Comments from residents who attended Monday’s meeting will be included in the closure feasibility study the Postal Service is conducting.
If the office is closed, Gibbon Glade would keep its name and zip code and residents would receive free rural delivery to mail boxes at their homes from the Farmington post office, said Bill Battles, the USPS postal operations manager for Fayette and Westmoreland counties.
“You get service for 200 years. It’s not going to stop here,” Battles said…”You’ll get free service coming to your residence.”
Gibbon Glade residents could buy a post office box in the Farmington office, which is six miles from the Gibbon Glade office, he said. The Gibbon Glade office has 37 post office box customers and delivers to 114 residents, Battles said.
Customers can buy stamps by leaving cash or checks in bright orange envelopes provided by the Postal Service in their mail boxes, Michulka said.
Battles reminded the 35 residents who attended the meeting that closing the office is being studied and no final decision about the office has been made.
“Closing this post office is a shame,” said Jim Means, chairman of board of township supervisors. “The township is growing and it’s going to continue to grow.”
Tom Baxter of Gibbon Glade said a USPS letter posted at the post office says the office is making some money. The letter states that revenue increased from $19,459 in 2007 to $21,048 in 2010.
He said he found a federal law stating post offices can’t be closed because they are losing money and the impact a closing would have on residents must be considered.