West Side awaits status of Grant St. P.O.

By Allison Dunckle, Ariel Hofher and Sharvonne Williams
Bengal News Reporters
 This nationwide retailer has more stores than every McDonald’s, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart put together, but many of them are closing and sealing up faster than a flat rate priority mail box.
  The U.S. Postal Service, which serves over 30,000 locations across the country, is facing a financial crisis that will affect not only the postal industry but the communities that depend on it. Soon, many will be forced to consolidate, reduce the number of staff or offer fewer services than in the past, according to Karen Mazurkiewicz, spokesperson for postal service’s Western New York district.
 “What it comes down to it supply and demand, and how the postal service is trying to position itself for the future,” Mazurkiewicz said. “What we’ve realized over the years is we don’t need as many post offices. Part of the reason is customer habits are changing, and not as many people are mailing a 44 cent letter, to do their mailing, to do their banking, pay their bills, and even keep in touch with loved ones.”
 But many West Side residents still depend on these services.

 “A lot of (West Side) folks have limited means,” said Paul Urbanski, customer service manager of the West Side Station at 465 Grant St. “To them, it’s a gathering point. It’s a place that they do a lot of banking….they also come in to buy money orders and pay their bills.”
 Urbanski said that about a quarter of the West Side station’s business is generated by residential customers. Many of them are refugees who speak little to no English, and depend on the post office to communicate or send money to family back home.
Wide use of the Internet also has affected the way the postal service does business.
  “Technology has eliminated the need for what we used to do,” Urbanski said.  “A lot of companies are going paperless. You can go online now to check everything you need.”
 Mazurkiewicz said there is an increasing realization that post offices must evolve to keep up with competition. The industry, she said, has changed. Stamps can now be purchased online, for instance. Packages can be mailed from their website. Other retailers, including Office Depot, offer competitive shipping services.
“We don’t need as many post offices. We’re trying to restructure our retail footprint so we don’t have as many,” Mazurkiewicz said.
 An announcement is expected to be made that will reveal what branches will be eliminated or consolidated across the country. Urbanski said the Postmaster General will lay out an elaborate plan in the form of a large document that will determine the future of many of these post office branches, though it is unclear how the West Side station will be affected.
 “There’s always been talk of closing post offices. But right now with the financial crisis that we’re in it’s actually going to be happening,” Urbanski said.  “There’s fewer letter carriers, fewer clerks, fewer supervisors than there were five years ago.”
 Many post office jobs will be reduced through attrition, where incentives and early retirement packages will encourage people to leave voluntarily rather than forcing layoffs, Urbanski said.
 Though it’s too early to predict how the West Side branch will be affected, but if it closes organizations that depend on it will likely suffer the consequences of the postal pinch. People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH), for instance, is one such West Side business that frequently utilizes the post office.
 “As an organization, we would be pretty disappointed if this post office closed because we rely on it for our postal needs,” said PUSH Community Organizer Whitney Yax. “The same is true for many West Side residents; this is the only post office in our neighborhood and every time I'm there, it's very busy,” she said.
 Mazurkiewicz said measures must be taken to protect the future of the post office, such as limiting postal carrier routes along the West Side.
 “I think we have to change. If we don’t change we will become obsolete,” she said.