Five Bronx post offices saved, 12 others still at risk

Here's a story from the Riverdale Review and Bronx Press

By Brendan McHugh 

The Bronx went postal on the United States Postal Service when 17 post offices were being studied for closure last year. Through rallies and community meetings, along with sending thousands of letters, five of the 17 have been saved so far. 

Fieldston, Einstein in Co-op City, Castle Hill, Hunts Point and West Farms Post Offices have all been removed from the list, the USPS announced last week. 

Robert Gratz, far right, held a successful
rally to save the Fieldston Post Office.

“I am so glad USPS has come to realize what the community and I have known all along: these post offices are much more than a place to drop off mail; they provide the essential services that residents rely on every day,” said Rep. Joseph Crowley, who has four of the offices in his district. 

Rep. Eliot Engel, who has the Fieldston office in his district, was thrilled at the news as well. 

“It is also encouraging that the Postal Service is listening to the rising chorus of reason. The Postal Service is facing difficult times but cutting off service to its customers is not the way out. The Post Office cannot fix its financial problems by making access to post offices more difficult and inconvenient.  This is a business plan designed for failure,” Rep. Engel said, noting that the Mount Vernon office in his district has also been saved. 

Fear for future of postal service

A story from this week's Riverdale Review and Bronx Press.

By Brendan McHugh 

Even worse postal service is coming to the Bronx. 

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced the elimination of overnight service for First-Class mail this week. 

Currently, 41.5 percent of First-Class mail arrives the next day, but with the Post Office’s proposed changes, it will go to zero. To get overnight service under the new regulations, the public would have to spend $13 to overnight a letter. 

They have already closed the Bronx Processing and Distribution Center earlier this year, which has slowed down mail for some Bronxites already. 

“It is a self-fulfilling prophecy – you provide inferior service, and you drive away business,” condemned U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel in a statement. “This gives them another excuse to curtail even more services, and all of a sudden it’s a downward spiral to poorer service."

The planned cuts include terminating 250 postal centers and laying off nearly 30,000 workers nationwide. 

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