See most recent list of hearing dates below.
Go to "History and Opinion" page for documentation of USPS manipulation of the truth in closing rural post offices.
IMPORTANT TIP FOR COMMENT FORMS: We have heard that if you mail in a comment form it goes into an unsorted pile that is not PO specific. So you should have your comment form ready to turn in at the community meeting, as these will all be put in an envelope and turned in together. Also, the best comments are ones that give specific disadvantages of losing a PO--"I am disabled and have no way of traveling to the next PO," or "My business depends on this PO
for shipping and I make 6 trips a day."
NEW INFORMATION:
There are many good articles at the postalreporter.com site but one that we all need to look at is POSTAL WORKERS ALLOWED TO CAMPAIGN AGAINST MAIL CHANGES. If you scroll down and read this article there is an attachment of a letter from a district manager, with the name and address blacked out. This looks exactly, word for word and correct date, like one sent out by Arkansas district manager, David Camp. The letter is now out on the website cited above and is public information, for all to read. This would be something good to bring up at a public meeting, as postmasters have been told not to talk about the closures or work against them with the threat of losing their jobs.
CLICK HERE FOR A SPREADSHEET OF PROPOSED POST OFFICE
CLOSURES WITH REVENUE/COSTS DATA
http://thenewrural.org/
Download an action guide to preventing the closing or consolidation of your post office here:
From Harrison Daily Times article:
How did Witts Springs Post Office survive? Off closure list
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Posted: Saturday, October 15, 2011 7:15 am |
HASTY — About 75 people learned Thursday evening that the Witts Springs Post Office has been removed from the list of Arkansas post offices threatened with closure.
Retired Western Grove postmaster Kathy Henthorne said the Witts Springs postmaster had told her that the isolated post office is off the list.
Shane Davis represented the U.S. Postal Service, and said he hadn’t seen the list.
“Why did Witts Springs come off the list?” Henthorne asked.
Davis said he didn’t go to that community meeting.
“You should know why Witts Springs and nine others came off the list,” Henthorne pressed.
The U.S. Postal Service hosted a meeting Thursday evening at the Hasty Fire Station to hear citizens’ input on why the Hasty Post Office shouldn’t be closed and discuss alternatives for mail delivery if the post office is closed. Public meetings are part of the process required to close post offices.
But much of the hour-long meeting was spent arguing that the U.S. Postal Service isn’t following its own guidelines for closing post offices and that servicing Hasty residents by rural carrier is financially impractical and would leave residents isolated.
Davis explained the U.S. Postal Service faces an urgent need to stop losing money. He encouraged residents to offer positive feedback, noting that closing the office is the worst case scenario.
He said the U.S. Postal Service is the country’s third largest employer, delivers 40 percent of the world’s mail, and 35 percent of its retail business is not conducted in traditional brick and mortar post offices.
The current proposal calls for the Western Grove Post Office to handle the Hasty Post Office’s current responsibilities. Davis said the final decision will be based on current need, condition of structure, community input, cost savings, long-term effect, fuel savings and other factors.
He said closing the Hasty Post Office would save $54,009 and reduce excess capabilities.
David Dunlap said residents wouldn’t see gas savings when they have to drive nine miles to Western Grove, and that distance is not counting people on the back side of the service area.
Sadie Wheeler said the U.S. Postal Service is “throwing our rural elderly under the bus for big boy health benefits and pensions. We want transparency.
“Our rural, elderly folk don’t use the Internet,” she exclaimed. “Our PMR (postmaster relief) takes care of people, not the Internet. They use the post office.”
She noted that forcing residents to join a rural route, move their post office box to Western Grove and establish a post office box in a community box all require paperwork.
Several in the audience stressed that the Postal Service’s $75 billion financial problems is due to an “accounting mistake,” laws that force it to pay up front for 75 years of pension and health benefits. But they agreed that the U.S. Postal Service is hemorrhaging.
North Arkansas College nursing instructor Nona Guynn said, “This bandage (closing rural post offices) won’t stop the hemorrhaging.” She also said closing post offices in east Newton County would leave a 100-mile stretch without a post office.
Tommy Flud said state Sen. Randy Laverty of Jasper had contacted Cong. Steve Womack, Cong. Mike Ross, Sen. John Boozman and Sen. Mark Pryor about passing legislation to fix the accounting problem and get back the money already paid. He added that interest accumulated over the past few years has probably increased the $75 billion to $85 billion that should be given back to postal operations.
He said the Postal Service was established to bond the country together.
“We’re here to talk about the local aspect of the Hasty Post Office,” Davis again stressed.
Several in the audience held up a letter from Sen. Pryor that expressed his frustrations at failing to get answers from U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe during congressional hearings on closing rural post office closures.
“I don’t expect answers, when the postmaster general didn’t answer six senators,” Wheeler said.
Scott Covington asked why the procedure isn’t following the Postal Service’s guide for closing posting offices. “Regulations show you should go through each alternative.”
He noted that residents will know by the middle of December if the Hasty Post Office gets a reprieve, before the order to close is issued Feb. 20, 2012
Post offices at Vendor, Mt. Judea and Pelsor also are on the list of facilities to be closed. Several in the crowd said the 100 miles of highway between Western Grove and Dover would be left without a post office.
NEWS FLASH - October 14, 2011
Statement of the National League of Postmasters on Markup
of the H.R. 2309, the Issa Bill
October 13, 2011
Finally, We Are Beginning to Win the Post Office Closing Battle. The rural Congressional Giant is finally awake. Thanks to all the grassroots efforts of the members of the National League of Postmasters and those of all of the members of your communities and other postmasters who have rallied to oppose the widespread closing of rural post offices, we
are beginning to see results. Just minutes ago, the House Government Reform Committee passed out H.R. 2309 with a wide variety of amendments. Among those amendments was one that—in recognition of the importance of small rural post offices— would limit the
closing of rural post offices to only 10% of all the post offices being closed. That means that, for every ten post offices that would be closed, only one of them would could be rural. Thus, if the Postal Service actually ended up closing 3600 post offices, only 360 of them could be rural post offices. Additionally, a provision was added that would give appeal rights to the citizens of communities where stations and branches are being considered for closing.
Further, the effort to take delivery down to five days received what we think is a death blow today, as a Chaffetz amendment was adopted that would allow the Postal Service the ability to take delivery down to 5 days a week, only 12 times a year, and only if the Postal Service wanted to do that. Some of the Postal Service executives have told us that this
wouldn’t be worth their effort. The importance of today’s developments cannot be overstated. The tide in Congress is clearly changing and changing fast. The power of Congress is beginning to coalesce in a very strong, very direct, and very nonpartisan fashion against
the widespread closing of small rural post offices. Thank you everyone who has rallied to our standard. Don’t quit. Stay on course. Keep exercising your First Amendment rights, and keep the pressure on. We WILL end up winning this battle by continuing to contact our
Representatives. Stay the Course.. But let us make several things clear.
First, this bill is still not acceptable to the LEAGUE and would cause great harm to the Postal Service. Despite the victory on small rural post offices, the bill requires closing a billion dollars worth of post offices in suburban and urban districts which would result in closing many distribution nodes, firing many urban carriers and the quality of delivery service
would implode. That provision cannot stay without destroying the quality of our nation’s postal delivery. Second, even with these amendments, this bill cannot pass the House. More amendments and compromises are necessary, and then there is the Senate. One thing is clear though, the hardnosed, naïve, and unrealistic desire on this Committee’s part to close huge numbers of rural post offices is gone. That is good news. Finally, there a still a long, long, long way to go and all of you must continue to do exactly as you have been doing. You
have done a wonderful job and several members of the Committee have noted how their constituents have been pounding their doors down in opposition to closing their post offices. Nice job all. Keep it up.
Go to "History and Opinion" page for documentation of USPS manipulation of the truth in closing rural post offices.
IMPORTANT TIP FOR COMMENT FORMS: We have heard that if you mail in a comment form it goes into an unsorted pile that is not PO specific. So you should have your comment form ready to turn in at the community meeting, as these will all be put in an envelope and turned in together. Also, the best comments are ones that give specific disadvantages of losing a PO--"I am disabled and have no way of traveling to the next PO," or "My business depends on this PO
for shipping and I make 6 trips a day."
NEW INFORMATION:
There are many good articles at the postalreporter.com site but one that we all need to look at is POSTAL WORKERS ALLOWED TO CAMPAIGN AGAINST MAIL CHANGES. If you scroll down and read this article there is an attachment of a letter from a district manager, with the name and address blacked out. This looks exactly, word for word and correct date, like one sent out by Arkansas district manager, David Camp. The letter is now out on the website cited above and is public information, for all to read. This would be something good to bring up at a public meeting, as postmasters have been told not to talk about the closures or work against them with the threat of losing their jobs.
CLICK HERE FOR A SPREADSHEET OF PROPOSED POST OFFICE
CLOSURES WITH REVENUE/COSTS DATA
http://thenewrural.org/
Download an action guide to preventing the closing or consolidation of your post office here:
State-by-state list of proposed post office closings:
List of Arkansas post offices slated for closure:
Please mail your congressional delegates and send them each the message….that
it is important to you and your neighbors that your Post Office (name
it, along with zip code) remains open.
Sen. John Boozman
320 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC, 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4843
Fax: (202) 228-1371
Fax: (202) 228-1371
Cong. Rick Crawford
1408 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4076
Fax: (202) 225-5602
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4076
Fax: (202) 225-5602
Sen. Mark Pryor
255 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, D.C. 20510
p: (202) 224-2353
f: (202) 228-0908
Washington, D.C. 20510
p: (202) 224-2353
f: (202) 228-0908
Cong. Steve Womack
1508 Longworth HOB
1508 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4301 tel
Cong.Tim Griffin
1232 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2506
Fax: (202) 225-5903
Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00AM-6:00PM Eastern Time
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2506
Fax: (202) 225-5903
Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00AM-6:00PM Eastern Time
Cong. Mike Ross
Mail a letter to Arkansas District Manager David Camp at 420 Natural Resources Drive, Little Rock, AR 72205, requesting that your Post Office remains open.
You can make a video like this one from the Fox community.
Dates we know when hearings will be held:
ALLEENE, AR –Aug 30, at 5:30 pm, at the Alleene Community Center, 151 Little River 134.
MENIFEE, AR –Aug. 30 at 5:30 pm, Menifee City Hall, 68 N Mustang St.
BEIRNE, AR –Aug 31,at 5:30 pm, Beirne Baptist Church, 24 Beirne Mill Lp.
JERUSALEM, AR –Sept. 1, at 5:30 pm, Jerusalem Community Bldg., 23 School House Rd.
GREGORY, AR –The U.S. Postal Service held a public meeting in Gregory August 24.
MENIFEE, AR –Aug. 30 at 5:30 pm, Menifee City Hall, 68 N Mustang St.
BEIRNE, AR –Aug 31,at 5:30 pm, Beirne Baptist Church, 24 Beirne Mill Lp.
JERUSALEM, AR –Sept. 1, at 5:30 pm, Jerusalem Community Bldg., 23 School House Rd.
GREGORY, AR –The U.S. Postal Service held a public meeting in Gregory August 24.
EVERTON, AR - Sept. 13 at 5:30 pm, at the Everton Community Center
GRAVELLY, AR - Sept. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at Gravelly Masonic Lodge/Community Center
BLUFFTON, AR - Oct. 25 at 5:30 p.m. at Fourche Valley Community Center
New hearing dates released September 28:
Crocketts Bluff, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 7, Crocketts Bluff Community Center, 2637
Arkansas 153.
Guion, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 11, Guion Community Center, 244 Second St.
Wright, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 12, Wright-Pastoria Fire Department, 8599 Arkansas 256.
Casa, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 13, Casa school cafeteria, 114 S. Maple St.
Guion, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 11, Guion Community Center, 244 Second St.
Wright, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 12, Wright-Pastoria Fire Department, 8599 Arkansas 256.
Casa, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 13, Casa school cafeteria, 114 S. Maple St.
Hasty Oct 13 5:30pm Fire Dept on Hwy 123S
Compton Nov 1 5:30pm County Line Baptist Church Hwy 43W
Peel Nov 17 5:30pm Free Gospel Church 5411 Hwy 125 NW
Humnoke, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 18, Humnoke
Library/City Hall, 94 N. Fourth St.
Ben Lomond, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 19, Ben Lomond Community Center, 448 Wilson Creek Road.
Ben Lomond, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 19, Ben Lomond Community Center, 448 Wilson Creek Road.
Ethel, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 19,
Mary J’s Country Cafe, 1 Ethel Road.
Grapevine, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 20, Sardis
Missionary Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 80 Grant County Road
Russell, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Russell Senior Citizen Building, 104 E. Elm St.
Watson, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at Watson City Hall, 500 Clayton St.
St. Charles, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at St. Charles City Hall, 608 Broadway.
Tichnor, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Tichnor Volunteer Fire Department, 1038 Arkansas 44.
Wabbaseka, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Wabbaseka Community Center, 114 First St.
Egypt, 5:30
p.m., Oct. 25, Egypt City Hall, 11063 Arkansas 91.
Roe, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 25, Roe
Men’s Club, 336 Williams St.
Greenway,5:30 p.m., Oct. 27, Church of Christ, 317 Third St.
Whelen Springs, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 27, Whelen Springs Community Center, 319 Main St.
Fox, 5:30 p.m., Nov. 28, Rural Special School Cafeteria
Meetings at other locations proposed for closure are being scheduled.
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| Flyer you can copy and paste into any publishing software as an image for quick and easy printing |
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| OP-Ed you can copy and paste into any publishing software as an article to submit to your newspaper |
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| Petition you can copy and paste into any publishing software as an image for quick and easy printing |
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| What happens next after community hearing |
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| Review process after post office is put on potential closure list |
Comment Form to be handed to Postal Service official who conducts the local hearing or mailed to:
Cary Chism, Manager, Consumer Affairs
Arkansas District USPS
420 Natural Resource Drive
Little Rock, AR 72205-9631
REPORT ON EVERTON POST OFFICE HEARING HELD SEPTEMBER 13
The
purpose of this post is to inform residents in communities that have
yet to hold their postal service hearing on closing their post offices
about what they can expect in the hearing and give suggestions as to
what they should do.
The
U.S. Postal Service held the hearing about possible closure of the
Everton Post Office at the Everton Community Building on September 13.
Sixty-four community members attended. The hearing was conducted by
Shane Davis, who identified himself as the postmaster at Batesville, AR.
He said he was "just the messenger" and was there to tell about the
post office "studies," as they are called, and collect evidence. He
read (very quickly) from a print-out of a Power Point--too quickly for
anyone taking notes to take down information. So
if you want a detailed record of what is said, it would be a good idea
to record the meeting. You can also ask him to let you write down the
information afterward.
Mr.
Davis came by himself and didn't have anyone to take notes. He was
trying to convey the Postal Service's talking points about the
"studies," the village post office options the USPS is supposedly going
to offer in place of our present post offices (where there's a retail
outlet that qualifies in the community, which isn't likely in a rural
area), and the options that will be available to postal customers when
their post office is closed (rural route mailboxes or a bank of
mailboxes in the center of town with the mail carrier providing "all the
retail services your post office now provides"). At the same time he
was supposed to be "gathering evidence"--taking down people's oral
statements--while he was answering questions from audience members.
Under
these circumstances, it was not his fault that he didn't have many of
the most important points of "evidence" from the audience members when
the session was over. It would be a good idea,
when you have your hearing, to ask to see the presenter's notes
afterward and fill in any important points he missed. He will bring
comment sheets with him, but it would be a good idea to run off the
comment sheet on this website and hand it out to people ahead of the
meeting so they can go with comments already written out. He said you
could leave them with him or mail them in (address posted with the
comment sheet), but from the way he described the evidence being
collected and forwarded on, it would seem there would be less chance of
the evidence being lost if people turned in the comment sheets to the
presenter at the meeting. These comment sheets are the bulk of the
"evidence" the presenter is going to collect at the meeting.
Many
people at the meeting related the hardship they would experience if the
post office was shut down. Then they followed this up with the
question, "What is the Postal Service going to do about that?" Learning
necessary information about the alternative solution is important, but
questioners should be careful about giving the presenter the opening to
say that "you will still be able to get all of the services you now get
from your post office, but they will be delivered by your rural mail
carrier." That will be his answer, and we know it is just not true that
the rural route service will have the same reliability, security, and
convenience of a local post office.
Some
excerpts from the introductory remarks: The presenter started out with
the pre-packaged remarks provided to him by the USPS. He gave
statistics about how many homes receive mail, how many new delivery
points, employees, and retail offices there are, etc. He included the
propaganda to be found on the USPS website that "customers now have many
choices and many no longer have anything to do with physical post
offices"--Internet services, in other words, when many rural customers
are poor and/or elderly or disabled and/or don't have access to the
Internet. He asked how many people pay bills on-line. He stated that
since 2007, mail volume has been declining and customer visits to retail
offices have declined. He said that the Postal Service "can no longer
afford to maintain as many retail outlets." He listed a series of steps
the USPS is taking, including adjusting carrier routes, reducing
staffing levels, and selling unused and underused facilities. At this
point an audience member asked if the Postal Service has thought of
dropping its sponsorship of the Olympics, the NFL, and major league
baseball or reducing the number of bureaucrats, but he didn't have an
answer for that.
Mr.
Davis gave a list of 14 factors that will be considered in each post
office's "feasibility study" but didn't know if some of these will be
given more weight than others. These are:
1. Current office needs
2. Proximity of other postal locations
3. Proximity to alternate access options
4. Structural condition of office
5. Lease terms of property, if leased
6. Real estate market if property is owned
7. Retail revenue transactions
8. Community impact
9. Customer access
10. Impact on customer and community postal needs
11. Impact on employees
12. Cost savings
13. Environmental impact
14. The long-term needs of the Postal Service
The community meeting apparently triggers a "60 day analysis" of the evidence. This is a period when people can send in further comments, write letters, get elected officials to write letters, etc.
The day after the meeting, Mr. Davis said he would transmit the
evidence he had gathered at Everton to Cary Chism, the Manager of
Consumer Affairs of the Arkansas District in Little Rock (address with
the written Comment Form on this site). Chism will collect all evidence
on the 14 factors above and transmit it to the Arkansas District
Manager, David Camp (address given previously on this site). Evidence
might include written comments; oral comments the presenter wrote down;
letters to Camp or Davis from community members, members of Congress,
or local officials; petitions; or anything the community chooses to
submit pertaining to the 14 factors.
After
60 days Camp sends recommendations to either keep the post office open
or "further study" (a hearing leading to closure) to the Vice President
of District Operations. Asked where this VP was located, Davis said in
Texas, he thought. The community has 30 days to appeal during the
"further study" period and then the Postal Service will decide whether
to close or not. Asked if any post offices had been successful on
appeal, he said he didn't know.
As part of his evidence
collecting process (note taking), Mr. Davis asked for people to tell him
ways they used the post office that a rural carrier can't do. People should be prepared with examples for this question.
The problem was--and it was not his fault but the way the process was
designed--that he had a hard time interacting with the audience and
taking notes at the same time. So someone should ask to review his notes at the end of the meeting to make sure he gets everything.
ELECTED
OFFICIALS: County Judge James Norton, JP Robert Meek, and Sen. John
Boozman's representative Mike Moore were at this meeting and asked
insightful questions. It seemed to make a
difference to have these elected officials there, and he took down their
names and contact information. The more such representatives you can
get to your meeting, the better. Write a letter to your elected
officials. Try to get your elected officials to write a letter to David
Camp. Their contact information can be found elsewhere on this site.
Some Q & A's:
Q: "Why were the post offices on the list selected?" A: "I don't have the answer to that."
Q:
"Why was Arkansas hit so hard with the closings?" A: "I don't know
but there are a lot of small communities on top of each other between
Jonesboro and Memphis with post offices."
Q: "Will the comments be part of the evidentiary file?" A: "Yes."
Q: "Will a report be made from these hearings." A: "I don't know. We haven't gone that far."
Q: "What is the procedure for an appeal?" A: "I don't know. The information will be given to the postmaster."
Q: "Of all the post offices, what
percentage has been given the recommendation to close or not close?" A:
"I don't have that information."
Q: "Will the appeal be written?" A: "I don't know."
Mr.
Davis was very sympathetic and very good about sharing the information
he had. It does seem that the Postal Service is not giving the
employees they are sending out to do these community meetings much
information or preparation. Information from his notes about the "study" process and the timeline are posted on this site.
INTERESTING FACT CONTRIBUTED BY A RETIRED POSTAL WORKER: Rural and small post offices are only 0.7% of the U.S. Postal Service's budget. It seems they are being singled out for closure more as a matter of ideology than real cost to the system.
TRUE STORY CONTRIBUTED BY A MEETING PARTICIPANT TO ILLUSTRATE HOW HAVING A RURAL CARRIER IS NOT
THE SAME AS HAVING A POST OFFICE: This is an elderly couple, ages 66
and 79. They don't own a computer. He gets medications through the mail
from the VA in Fayetteville for blood pressure, allergies, and breathing
meds. When they lived in Harrison, a town of about 13,000, they had a
postal carrier who delivered mail on their street. The carrier wouldn't
deliver the meds to their home and sometimes wouldn't even leave a
notice that there was a package that needed to be picked up at the post
office. They received word from the VA that the post office was sending
the meds back to Fayetteville as "undeliverable." Meanwhile, he was
without his very necessary medications. Since moving to Everton and
renting a post office box, they say, "We always get every piece of
mail."
Are
these community meetings a good faith effort by the Postal Service or
just a formality? It's impossible to say. The employees who are being
pressed into service to hold the meetings seem to be acting in good
faith. It's not clear whether the USPS will treat the evidence
impartially and with good faith. All we can do is collect as much
evidence as possible, send it in, and hope for the best.
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