Wyandotte, Riverview Post Offices Latest Victim Of Budget Cuts (UPDATE)

Wyandotte's Post Office has become the latest casualty of cuts to the nation's postal service. The office which has operated since 1855, is scheduled to close in June of next year.

"Not having a satellite office in this city would be devastating," Wyandotte Mayor Joseph Peterson said as Monday's City Council Meeting, Patch reports. He urged residents to write letters in protest of the move.

Postmaster Michael Taurence "confirmed the closure plans, but said nothing is written in stone," according to Patch.

The Riverview post office is also set to close. Mail operations for both closed offices would move to Southgate.

Seventeen other post offices in southeastern Michigan, including 10 in Detroit, turn up on an August U.S. Postal Service closure list.

"Given the extraordinary decline in mail volume -- a decline of nearly 26 billion pieces this past year alone -- we must take action to reduce the size of our retail and delivery network," Charles Howe, U.S. Postal Service district manager said in a statement to CBS News.

The closings are part of a nationwide trend. The USPS is considering closing 3,700 offices and laying off more than 120,000 workers to overcome an $8 billion budget shortfall, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Some union members say the closings and layoffs are unnecessary. Instead, they blame a 2006 congressional mandate to fund pensions for the next 75 years for the postal service's current fiscal woes.

UPDATE 6:20 p.m. -- Also on Tuesday USPS announced that it would not close any facilities nationwide until May 15. The agency is waiting for Congress to come through with a budget overhaul. Depending on what happens, the downriver post offices could still be closed.

READ MORE about the Wyandotte and Riverview Post Office closings on Wyandotte Patch.

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Comments

[jackiechas47]

05:02 AM on 12/14/2011

Hey, why are all mail persons driving? What happened to the walking postman? Just how much is spent on vehicles and repairs and gas and losses at auctions to unload these trucks? Why not go back to neighborhood dropoff points for the NEIGHBORHOOD MAILPERSONS to do their route?
the postal service has gotten lazy in the past ten years and each year is worse as we go on!

[Beowolf741]

06:32 AM on 12/14/2011

The postal person comes to my small condo complex (5 buildings with 8 units each) in a vehicle. S/he puts the mail into the grouped mailboxes near the parking lot entrance. It saves time vs. going to each individual condo to hand deliver mail.

[jackiechas47]

09:36 AM on 12/14/2011

good mornin, Beowolf, That works good except that I, like so many older folks, live in a mobile home park and the parks here in Az are set up the same way. Now set back and watch how long it takes for the mail to be put in this row of boxes vs walking along and leaving the mail at each home box. The people here know the time that the mail truck gets here and ofcourse being a polite person he has to stop and converse with each person x 70 or so who feel getting mail is the highlight of their day.There are a lot of small ways for the post office to save money, one being shut the truck off during a one hour lunch. I'm sure there are plenty of places, warm or cool to eat your baggie lunch for free.Money can be saved. you just have to look at it from a persons view who has scrimped and done without to make ends meet for most of our lives, IE the average person or family. And by the way, thank you for your input to my post.

[MarsAmbassador]

12:28 AM on 12/14/2011

The postal service is guaranteed by the US Constitution.

[DEMION]

11:43 PM on 12/13/2011

Iam not surprised to see the post offices start closing. The have been over paying the employees for years. I have friends who work there, and when i hear them say they r making over $20 an hour to put an envelope in a box. What a joke, talk about an easy job and being over paid, what do they exspect.