WOODFORD - Woodford Post Office, once scheduled to close, could get a reprieve under a new U.S. Postal Service plan to keep rural post offices open but with shorter operating hours.
Under the new plan announced last week, a dozen other village post offices in Green and Lafayette counties which were not scheduled to close are now on the list for proposed reduced hours. They are among the 385 Wisconsin post offices of more than 13,000 rural mail facilities nationwide that could see hours of operation reduced to two, four or six hours.
Local area post offices and their proposed retail hours are Albany, four hours; Argyle, six hours; Benton, four hours; Blanchardville, six hours; Brooklyn, four hours; Browntown, four hours; Gratiot, four hours; Juda, four hours; Monticello, six hours; Shullsburg, four hours; South Wayne, four hours; and Woodford, two hours.
Warren, Winslow, Orangeville and Rock City along the Illinois stateline are also on the list.
The Postal Service plans to get approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission and hear public input sometime this fall. Community meetings will be conducted to review options in greater detail. Communities will be notified by mail of the date, time and location of these meetings.
The new strategy would be implemented over a two-year, multi-phased approach and would not be completed until September 2014.
Once implementation is completed, the Postal Service estimates savings of a half billion dollars annually. The closures were expected to save about $200 million.
Changes keep small town identity
The move to halt the closing of 3,700 low-revenue post offices followed months of dissent from rural states and their lawmakers, who said the cost-cutting would hurt their communities the most.
Woodford business owners and government leaders did not see any benefits to their community in the closing of their post office, which serves as "the identity of Woodford, since the day the railroad left," as David Stute, chairman of the Wiota township board, described it in December.
At a closure review meeting with postal authorities in December, some Woodford area residents said the closure would mean more inconveniences and expense to local businesses and citizens whose next nearest post office is in Argyle. But their biggest fear was that the village town name and their identity would be lost along with the post office, which doubles as a social spot for the community.
Under its new plan, the Postal Service announced towns would be able to retain their ZIP Codes and community identities.
The new plan is being added to existing alternatives previously offered under the proposed closures plan, which include: Providing mail delivery service in the affected community by either rural carrier or highway contract route; contracting with a local business to create a Village Post Office; and offering service from a nearby post office, according to a Postal Service news release.
The new set of alternatives would enable a town to possibly have a post office with modified hours, as well as a Village Post Office. Village Post Offices are operated by and located in current businesses.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe visited some rural areas in recent week to discuss fears about postal service cuts that could slow delivery of prescription drugs, newspapers and other services.
Donahoe said in the release he hoped the latest plan will help allay much of rural America's concern about postal cutbacks. He prodded Congress to act quickly on legislation that will allow the agency to move ahead with its broader multi-billion dollar cost-cutting effort and with a goal of being profitable by 2015.
"We've listened to our customers in rural America, and we've heard them loud and clear - they want to keep their post office open," he said.
Jobs: The price of it all
The Postal Service announced last week that it ended its second quarter with a new loss of $3.2 billion, compared to a new loss of $2.2 billion for the same period last year. Its fiscal year ends in September.
The agency has forecast a record $14.1 billion loss by the end of this year; without changes, it said, annual losses will exceed $21 billion by 2016.
The new plan will save more than the closure plan, mostly by weeding out full-time postmasters who don't have labor contract protections and replacing them with part-time workers, the Postal Service said. It plans to discuss possible buyouts with 13,000 postmasters who are now eligible for retirement. More than 80 percent of postal costs in rural areas are labor-related.
The closings, in comparison, would have cost the jobs of about 3,000 postmasters, 500 supervisors and another 500 to 1,000 clerks, according to postal officials last year. The Postal Service has about 574,000 employees.
Under the new plan announced last week, a dozen other village post offices in Green and Lafayette counties which were not scheduled to close are now on the list for proposed reduced hours. They are among the 385 Wisconsin post offices of more than 13,000 rural mail facilities nationwide that could see hours of operation reduced to two, four or six hours.
Local area post offices and their proposed retail hours are Albany, four hours; Argyle, six hours; Benton, four hours; Blanchardville, six hours; Brooklyn, four hours; Browntown, four hours; Gratiot, four hours; Juda, four hours; Monticello, six hours; Shullsburg, four hours; South Wayne, four hours; and Woodford, two hours.
Warren, Winslow, Orangeville and Rock City along the Illinois stateline are also on the list.
The Postal Service plans to get approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission and hear public input sometime this fall. Community meetings will be conducted to review options in greater detail. Communities will be notified by mail of the date, time and location of these meetings.
The new strategy would be implemented over a two-year, multi-phased approach and would not be completed until September 2014.
Once implementation is completed, the Postal Service estimates savings of a half billion dollars annually. The closures were expected to save about $200 million.
Changes keep small town identity
The move to halt the closing of 3,700 low-revenue post offices followed months of dissent from rural states and their lawmakers, who said the cost-cutting would hurt their communities the most.
Woodford business owners and government leaders did not see any benefits to their community in the closing of their post office, which serves as "the identity of Woodford, since the day the railroad left," as David Stute, chairman of the Wiota township board, described it in December.
At a closure review meeting with postal authorities in December, some Woodford area residents said the closure would mean more inconveniences and expense to local businesses and citizens whose next nearest post office is in Argyle. But their biggest fear was that the village town name and their identity would be lost along with the post office, which doubles as a social spot for the community.
Under its new plan, the Postal Service announced towns would be able to retain their ZIP Codes and community identities.
The new plan is being added to existing alternatives previously offered under the proposed closures plan, which include: Providing mail delivery service in the affected community by either rural carrier or highway contract route; contracting with a local business to create a Village Post Office; and offering service from a nearby post office, according to a Postal Service news release.
The new set of alternatives would enable a town to possibly have a post office with modified hours, as well as a Village Post Office. Village Post Offices are operated by and located in current businesses.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe visited some rural areas in recent week to discuss fears about postal service cuts that could slow delivery of prescription drugs, newspapers and other services.
Donahoe said in the release he hoped the latest plan will help allay much of rural America's concern about postal cutbacks. He prodded Congress to act quickly on legislation that will allow the agency to move ahead with its broader multi-billion dollar cost-cutting effort and with a goal of being profitable by 2015.
"We've listened to our customers in rural America, and we've heard them loud and clear - they want to keep their post office open," he said.
Jobs: The price of it all
The Postal Service announced last week that it ended its second quarter with a new loss of $3.2 billion, compared to a new loss of $2.2 billion for the same period last year. Its fiscal year ends in September.
The agency has forecast a record $14.1 billion loss by the end of this year; without changes, it said, annual losses will exceed $21 billion by 2016.
The new plan will save more than the closure plan, mostly by weeding out full-time postmasters who don't have labor contract protections and replacing them with part-time workers, the Postal Service said. It plans to discuss possible buyouts with 13,000 postmasters who are now eligible for retirement. More than 80 percent of postal costs in rural areas are labor-related.
The closings, in comparison, would have cost the jobs of about 3,000 postmasters, 500 supervisors and another 500 to 1,000 clerks, according to postal officials last year. The Postal Service has about 574,000 employees.