Norman stays posted

Staff Report

Impending state budget cuts threatened small post offices with closings. The Town of Norman thought their post office might be closing soon.

Jean Stutts, town mayor, said their council wrote several letters to Rep. Kissell, urging him not to let the post office close, which would force Norman residents to collect their mail in Ellerbe or Rockingham. Having a significant senior population and being rural, Norman residents hoped not to have to travel for their mail.

Many post offices across the nation are facing this issue. Rural post offices cost more money than they make, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Stutts said she spoke to the Postmaster, who said that if a small post office has a full-time Postmaster, the facility will not close.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, half of the post offices open operate at a deficit.

A disproportionate number of the thousands of post offices under review are in rural or smaller suburban areas, though the postal service declined to provide any estimate on how many beyond those slated to begin closure in March might ultimately close or which ones are being targeted.

“We want to make the smartest decisions possible with the smallest impact on communities,” Dean Granholm, vice president for delivery and post office operations, said in an interview. He said the agency is identifying locations that are operating at a deficit and looking “for the opportunity to start the process of closing.”

Stutts said she was relieved to hear that Norman would not be effected immediately.