Post Office Closures to Hurt Many Memphians

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The United States Postal Service is almost 9 billion dollars in the hole. With a 5 and a half billion dollar payment due to the U.S. Treasury later this month, the agency is looking for every penny. That means closing offices and laying off workers.

There are 6 postal stations on the chopping block in metro Memphis:

• Hollywood, 1283 Tunica Street, 38108
• Lamar, 1458 S. Trezevant St., 38114
• Mallory, 193 E. Mitchell Road, 38109
• Peabody Place, 100 Peabody Place, Suite 150, 38103
• Frayser, 3057 Baskin Street, 38127
• Air Station at Millington

The more than 2,000 postal workers here in the Mid-South aren't the only ones upset about the decline of an American institution.

The U.S. Mail is older than the Constitution, has survived wars and the Great Depression. Now, it's dying a slow death thanks to technological innovations in communication.

Since email came along, the mail service has lost ground, and a lot of it. In the last 5 years, the U.S. Postal Service's annual volume has declined by more than 30 percent.

But not everyone communicates by clicking the 'send' button. There are people who don't have a computer, who still mail letters, bills and packages, like 76-year old Celestine Braxton.

"If they close [the post office], it's going to hurt me. And if it hurts me, it's going to hurt a whole lot more other people."

Patricia Herron of the United Postal Workers Union is fighting what seems to be an un-winnable battle.

"It's a challenged neighborhood. You know, it's an aging neighborhood and it's challenged financially, so most of the people depend on this," she said. "They're trying to say that with things like email, and things like that, there's no need for a postal service… until the United States becomes a country where every single household has computer access…. We don't."

Lisa West does use email, but says she still needs her post office "a lot for invitations, RSVP cards and for thank you notes." Her daughter is getting married, and that means more than 500 pieces of mail and 4 times that number of stamps.

"There's so many things you go to the post office for. Post office boxes, international mail, pass ports. Where are they going to go for those things otherwise?"

The Postal Service made 67 billion dollars last year, but lost 75 billion. A 2006 congressional mandate says the Postal Service must pay 5 and a half billion dollars a year to the U.S. Treasury to cover retirement and health benefits for its employees. To that end, the Postmaster decided to close as many as 3,700 offices around the country, including 6 offices in and around Memphis.

"People do use the post office," Herron said. "It's just that the people who use the post office, aren't the people Congress is concerned about right now."

Congressman Steve Cohen says he is concerned not only about the loss of the service, but also about the loss of good paying jobs. Roughly 2,000 people work for the Postal Service in Memphis. There's no word on how many might be laid off, but any addition to the unemployment line is tough to swallow.

Herron said, "We're not marketable. There aren't any $50,000 jobs out there that want someone who's 60 or 55, so your options for re-employment would be slim."