Postal Service Plans to Cut Sheridan Post Office Hours

The US Postal Service is planning to reduce the Sheridan Post Office's hours from 8 to 6. In a letter from the Post Office to postal customers received Monday, Kim Silance, CSDC Coordinator, detailed the process:

Dear Customer,
The Postal Service has established a review process for certain Post Offices known as the POST Plan. The Sheridan Post Office was among the offices evaluated under the Post Plan criteria. The Postal Service is now soliciting community input through the enclosed survey to help determine the best course of action for providing postal services to your community.

After receiving the results of his survey, the Postal Service will examine the responses and, unless the community has a strong preference (more than 60%) for conducting a discontinuance study for the Sheridan Post Office and establishing one of the additional sources of services below, the Postal Service intends to maintain the Sheridan Post Office with six hours of window service each weekday. Current Saturday window hours and access to delivery receptacles will not change as a result of the Post Plan realignment of weekday service hours.

In addition to the survey, the Postal Service will hold a meeting at the Sheridan Post Office at 126 West Jefferson, Sheridan, MO 64486 on October 15th at 2 to answer questions and provide additional information about the Post Plan. At the meeting, local management will share the results of the survey, answer questions, and solicit input regarding the time of day the Post Office will be open. Although survey results will be known and shared, the Postal Service will not make a final decision regarding this office until after the public meeting. This will enable the Postal Service to obtain all community input and opinions from both the surveys and the meeting before making a final decision.

The Postal Service is also seeking locally established businesses or organizations to serve as contractor-operated postal retail units in communities like yours. If you are interested in operating a postal retail unit, please visit the website at http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/expandedaccess/welcome.htm for additional information. Generally, these contractor-operated postal retail units will operate in combination with a community's Post Office. However, selection of the third option in the attached survey indicates a preference of your Post Office to be studies for discontinuance with the establishment of a contractor-operated unit as a replacement for the Post Office.

Please return the enclosed survey in the postage-paid envelope provided by 10/1/2012. We kindly request the inclusion of your mailing address so that we can ensure that one survey response is submitted per address. Please note that your response may be entered into a publicly-accessible record.

There are four options in the attached survey. They are as follows:
--Keep the office open, but with realigned weekday window service hours based on what they say is actual office workload. In the case of the Sheridan Post Office, hours will be changed from the present 7.75 hours to 6 hours each weekday; Saturdays would not be affected. Access to delivery receptacles would not be affected.

--Conduct a discontinuance study for the office and provide roadside mail delivery. Retail and delivery service would be provided through a rural carrier. Mail delivery points will be established or maintained and customers can purchase most postal services through the carrier or other alternate access points.

--Conduct a discontinuance study for the office and find a suitable alternative location operated by a contractor, usually at a local business. When businesses are found that meet the criteria, these establishments are contracted through the US Postal Service and offer stamps and flat rate products with service hours generally more expansive than what they say the local Post Office may be able to offer.

--Conduct a discontinuance study for the office and relocate PO Box service to a nearby Post Office.

Postal customers are also asked to indicate their preference for weekday window service hours. Box-up time (the time when mail is delivered to mail receptacles) will likely be affected.

The Postal Service Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 changed the way that retirees were paid. Instead of paying as you go, Congress required them to prefund these accounts, meaning that the Postal Service is losing billions of dollars annually. The Postal Service planned to close post offices in Allendale, Denver, Worth, Gentry, and Parnell last year and earlier this year following lengthy reviews; however, Senator Claire McCaskill and others intervened and persuaded them to change their minds. Now, the Postal Service is seeking to reduce the hours at many rural post offices.