A half-dozen postal stations and small rural post offices in Sacramento and surrounding counties are among nearly 3,700 post offices, branches and stations nationwide that the U.S. Postal Service will study for possible closure as it seeks to reduce costs.
On the study list are small post offices and postal stations in Citrus Heights, Davis, Gold Run, Kyburz, Ryde and Zamora.
The Postal Service, which reported a $2.6 billion loss in the first half of fiscal 2011 and an $8.5 billion loss for fiscal 2010, announced Tuesday that it is considering replacing thousands of its retail offices with "village post offices." These would be operated by local businesses such as pharmacies, grocery stores and other retailers that would provide postal products and services such as stamps and flat-rate packaging.
Currently, more than 35 percent of the Postal Service's retail revenue comes from such "expanded access" locations, according to a Postal Service news release.
Post offices in big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles also are being studied for closure, where they are within five miles of another station and have low numbers of customers.
The facilities targeted in Citrus Heights and on Third Street in downtown Davis are not the main post offices in those cities, and those in towns like Kyburz and Ryde serve small rural communities.
The study is separate from an announcement last year that the Postal Service was looking to move operations from the historic Sacramento site at Eighth and I streets. The agency is only considering leasing a different downtown space for those operations, said Ralph Petty, local spokesman for the Postal Service.
The post offices on the study list get few customers, as few as five per day, Petty said.
The Citrus Heights post office's Antelope station on Zenith Drive, however, was doing a steady business Tuesday morning, typically the lightest day of the week, said head clerk Tom Kleeh. Located in a shopping center across from a residential neighborhood west of Interstate 80, the Antelope station provides window service, mailing supplies and about 1,000 rental post office boxes.
Although it lacked the long lines of customers found at Citrus Heights' main post office on Fountain Square Drive near the city's commercial hub, the Antelope station's two clerks were constantly busy.
"It's the only post office I use," said Susan Pontier. "It's close to my home."
Pontier said she is disabled and can't do much walking or stand in line. The postal station provides convenient service for residents of a number of nearby senior mobile home parks, she said.
Chantell Taylor said closure of the Antelope station would inconvenience area residents, who would have to drive to the North Highlands or the main Citrus Heights post offices.
"The other post office, at Fountain Square, is always so busy," Taylor said. "If they closed this one, I can only imagine what it would be like over there."
The Ryde post office provides window service and post office box rentals.
"It's a small rural post office," said Lori Lamb, who serves as postmaster for both the Ryde and Hood post offices.
Tiffany Mackey, desk clerk at the Ryde Hotel and Event Center, said the post office is within walking distance of the hotel, which is a popular venue for weddings and other special events. The hotel has a mailbox there and uses the post office's mailing services.
If it were to close, she said, the nearest post office would be three miles away in Walnut Grove.
The smaller post office operations also are valued for the personal touch they offer.
"We like it. The people are so nice here," said North Highlands resident Inge Willits, who said the Antelope station is closer to her home than the post office in North Highlands.
Postal clerk Kleeh said customers constantly show their appreciation for the Antelope station and its employees.
One of the regular clerks is out on medical leave, Kleeh said, and "he got a boatload of sympathy cards from customers."
Eleanor Moller, owner of the Ryde post office building, constructed in 1883, said the post office is the hub of the community.
The "village post office" model and self-serve kiosks may benefit the Postal Service's bottom line, but patrons and employees questioned whether they would meet customers' needs.
People often come in with a bag full of items and want to know how to go about mailing them, Kleeh said.
"You can't walk up to a kiosk and say, 'I want to know how to mail this to India,' " he said.
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