Seventeen local post office branches on closure list

DETROIT (AP) -- Ten post office branches in Detroit are among 17 in southeastern Michigan on a U.S. Postal Service closure list. The offices could be closed by the end of the year as the financially troubled Postal Service seeks ways to cut costs, the Detroit Free Press reported recently. "We're the only government agency that has to break even," Postal Service spokesman Ed Moore told the newspaper. "We really have to be self-sustaining." Over the past five years, mail volume has decreased as more people correspond and pay bills over the Internet. The Postal Service lost $8 billion in 2010. "I feel more secure sometimes mailing something rather than doing it by e-mail," Ferndale City Councilman Mike Lennon said. "But the people most upset are our senior citizens." A post office in Ferndale, about two miles north of Detroit, along with branches in Flint, Pontiac and Highland Park also are on the closure list. "There's been no final decision made on their closure, but we're studying these," Moore said. Officials said 28 branches still would be open in Detroit and surrounding communities in Wayne County if the 10 post offices in the city were closed. Community meetings have to be held before any branch offices can be closed. So far, no meetings have been scheduled, although Moore said he expects them to come in September. The branches could be replaced by expanded-access sites in grocery stores and banks where stamps can be purchased and packages mailed. Customers would get most of the same services at those sites as they would at post office branches. Published: Tue, Aug 23, 2011