Residents Deliver 'No' Message on Postal Closing

Morris Township Mayor Peter Mancuso looked at the crowded lobby Wednesday night in the post office in Morristown and said, “Welcome to December 2012. What will this place look like with 800 packages?”

Mancuso was one of more than a dozen speakers Wednesday passionately defending the , trying to change the minds of postal offices who have said that the Convent Station office is one of two under consideration for closure. The meeting attracted more than 75 participants.

Among the chief reasons raised for keeping the Convent Station facility open: the location, near three major colleges, office parks, businesses, and an NJ Transit station; the difficultly and time involved in a trip to the Ridgedale post office; the lack of parking at that facility; and what several said were the general dark and unwelcoming parking lot and building facades. The residents said that other nearby options—, and the Madison post office—also lack sufficient parking.

Further, the residents said, the service at Convent Station was better because there are only three service windows at Ridgedale Avenue.

“This would be a significant hardship,” Mancuso said.

The U.S Postal service is considering whether to shutter the Convent Station and Morris Street offices as part of a national cost-cutting effort aimed at heading off $19 billion in losses by 2016.

Wednesday’s meeting focused on the potential closing of Convent Station.

A public information session on the Morris Street facility will be held between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday night at the post office at 150 Ridgedale Avenue.

Allen Tanko, the New Jersey postal official who ran the meeting, said that all the comments from the meeting would be combined with written comments gathered through March 18. Written comments may be sent to the U.S. Postal Service Manager of Consumer Industries, 494 Broad St., Newark, NJ 07102.

He said the purpose of the public meetings was to determine if the reasons offered by the public for keeping a facility open outweighed the reasons for closing it.

Mancuso said it appeared to him that the decision to consider closing Convent Station was “an example of spurious thinking.”

It was clear, he said, the postal officials who drew up the list of 50 or so New Jersey post offices to be studied for closing knew very little about Morris Township and who was served by the Convent Station post office.

First, he said, the township has 23,000 residents, and is part of a Greater Morristown area that has 60,000 residents, and a significant business community.

He said he was deeply concerned that the Morristown area was facing the potential loss of two post offices, when offices in other areas were not considered for closing. He said it would be “travesty” if the Convent Station post office closed.

Tanko said that several areas of the New Jersey were facing multiple postal closings, including Newark, Paterson and Hoboken.

Patrick Davidson said that the shift away from Convent Station would be  inconvenient for township residents.

He said he lives in Liberty Gardens, and the trip from there to Ridgedale Avenue, between three and 3.5 miles, and through eight traffics signals, took 14 minutes recently. It has taken him as much as 40 minutes, he said.

Rosemarie McCauley, speaking as a resident of the Moore Estate, said the Convent Station post office is better located, near colleges and the train station. She said a change in hours that left the post office open from only 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. may have contributed to the loss revenue there.

The new hours are not designed to capture business from commuters in the morning, or business owners who need to ship packages or mail by the end of the business day, she said.

McCauley said the lack of parking at Ridgedale is a significant issue.

The Postal Service is a self-financing federal entity that generates its revenue from the sale of postal products and services, but it can seek financial assistance from the federal government when its costs exceed revenues.

In its five-year plan issued in February, the Post Service said unless steps are taken to change its operations, it stands to lose $19 billion in 2016. The biggest issues are the continuing loss of revenue from mail services and a requirement that the post service pre-pay costs for retiree health benefits.

Operation and budgetary changes have been proposed but the postal service needs Congressional approval to implement these changes. It delayed the closings until May 15 to allow Congress to act.

The postal service has offered a plan that could include the closure of about 3,700 post offices, more than 200 regional mail processing centers and the loss of 35,000 postal service jobs and the possible loss of Saturday delivery service.

Postal officials said mail volume has declined by 43.1 billion pieces, customer visits have declined by 200 million and retail transactions have declined by $2 billion.

Locally, projected the 10-year savings for consolidating Convent Station branch is $1,395,665, and the projected 10-year savings for consolidating Morris Street Station is $948,482.

The Convent Station office, which is a rented facility, has 560 post office boxes, 245 of which are rented.

Between 2007 to 2010, it showed declining revenue.

In 2007, the office generated $761,146; in 2008, there was an increase to $793,373; in 2009, a decline to $646,261; and in 2010, a drop to $505,769.