WGEM.com: Quincy News, Weather, Sports, and RadioOver 30 tri-state post offices under review for possible closure
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KINDERHOOK, Ill. (WGEM) -- Your local post office may soon be shutting its doors for good.
The Postal Service announced Tuesday it plans to close almost 3700 offices.
Most of them are in small communities across the country, including about 30 here in the Tri-States.
And some residents can't imagine what their towns would be like without a post office.
The Kinderhook Post Office is a tiny building on the south side of town, but it's a huge part of the community.
Anna Clark has been coming here since the 1950s.
"I'd be just lost without it, I'd miss the service."
Clark says she's not alone. She says the post office is vital to a small town like Kinderhook.
Clark says, "It would hurt the businesses here. We have churches, a school, restaurant, a bank, FS. I'm sure they all rely on this post office."
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the closings are necessary to shore up a 20-billion-dollar budget gap, due in part to online bill pay and email.
"As the volume continues to drop off, and especially profitable volume like first-class mail, and believe me, that's what drives this whole thing- is first class mail. As we see that volume drop off we have to do things differently," said Donahoe.
The Postal Service says most of the offices it plans to close have average sales of less than 50-dollars a day.
There is a plan to replace shuttered offices with "village post offices", locations like grocery or convenience stores, which would contract for postal services, at a major savings.
"Customers will be able to pick up their post office box mail at these locations. They'll be able to deposit mail in our blue collection cans. They'll retain their zip code and their community identity. They'll be able to purchase stamps and mail packages through our flat-rate products at these locations," says Dean Granholm, Vice President of Delivery and Post Office Operations.
But Clark says without a post office in Kinderhook or an alternative location, she'd have to drive to Barry or even Hannibal, and that wouldn't be cost effective for her.
"It's so convenient with gas prices the way they are, it saves money by having post office here."
The closings are expected to begin within the next four to six months.
The postal service says it's also considering a money-saving plan to cut back mail deliveries from six to five days a week.
Below is a list of Tri-State post offices under review:
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