Post Office Closings: A National Story

By Charles Sercombe

The fate of Hamtramck’s Post Office and branches across the country has hit the national press.

In recent weeks, a rumor has swept though Hamtramck that the Post Office here is going to close. That rumor has been partly fueled by local carriers.

A spokesman for the Detroit area Postal Service denied that a definite decision has been made. The spokesman said the Postal Service is looking at all of its local branches to see which can be closed and consolidated with others.

Last week a Yahoo.com news story confirmed that the Postal Service is deciding whether to close up 3,200 offices and retail outlets.

The story also confirmed that before a decision is made, the Postal Service will seek community input and in some cases hold a community meeting. A decision is expected sometime in the next three months.

“There’s a very long process that they have to go through,” Mario Principe, the post office continuance consultant at the National League of Postmasters was quoted as saying.

Communities are allowed to mount a counter-argument to a closing. In Hamtramck, city officials are already talking to state and federal legislators to prevent a closing.