Douglas residents will get a chance to provide information to the U.S. Postal Service which might help them save the Douglas Post Office.
The U.S. Postal Service confirmed to U.S. Sen. Mark Begich this week that Douglas is one of at least five Alaska Post Offices that it is still considering closing.
The U.S. Postal Service had originally said it was considering closing as many as 36 Alaska post offices, including Douglas, as a cost savings measure. Since then, 25 post offices that are off the road system have been removed from the closure consideration list, said Julie Hasquet, Begich’s press secretary.
Still on the list evidently are Douglas and four other post offices, and customers of those facilities are getting surveys looking for information about their use of the offices.
Among the questions being asked are how many times per day, week or month they mail letters, buy stamps, drop off packages, and perform a host of other transactions.
The surveys recognize the fact facilities such as the Douglas Post Office have a larger role in their communities than simply handling mail. It also asks questions about use of the post offices for school bus stops, community gathering places or for services such as passport applications.
It also asks about alternative methods of obtaining postal services, such as online, stamps by mail or using different postal facilities close to work or shopping.
And the survey also recognizes that at least some postal customers may have no other way to get to a post office. It asks if the customers has a means of transportation to get to another post office. It also asks whether customers also use local businesses near the post offices.
The surveys will be accepted until Sept. 8.
Others facilities where customers are getting the surveys include three military base post offices and the downtown Anchorage Postal Store.
The surveys come, as might be expected, with a pre-paid envelope.
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or at patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.
Comments (20)
Add commentQuit looking at closing it
Quit looking at closing it and just close it. Auke Bay too. Neither of these "communities" have grocery stores. They are driving right next to a post office in order to get groceries. This will not be a huge inconvenience like they are all screaming. I would guarantee every one of them goes right by one of the other post offices regularly, or if they are a complete invalid, the person shopping for them does. Board 'em up!
Lives have been saved by
Lives have been saved by random people on the street too.
Community Center
The Douglas PO is more than a place to pick up mail. It's a place where locals run into each other and catch up, a place where they can check they community schedule bulletin board, a place, in short, where everybody knows your name.
Levi and Dean - those are the names of the two postal workers there. Do you know the name of the postal workers in the Federal Bldg or the valley branch? I bet not many of you do. The Douglas guys ask after your family, they ensure you know all the options for mailing a package, explain the difference between tracking and certified, and seem to really care about what they are doing.
The parking is unreliable at the Federal Bldg because it is a popular place, not just for mail, but for the daycare and those picking up family from work. And they're not open on Saturdays.
I drive over to Douglas to mail my packages on Saturday because I know I will get a friendly welcome and outstanding service. Someone the other day commented that no one should expect anything, let alone outstanding service, from any USPS employee. Well, I'm here to tell you that may be true at the Federal Bldg or Valley branch, but it couldn't be further from the truth in Douglas.
Maybe we should stop treating
Maybe we should stop treating the USPS like a business and just provide additional funding for the unprofitable post offices.
Really?
A community center? Has anyone read the news? Heard about amazing debts and skyrocketing budgets? Heard about our insolvent postal service? A better option for those of you wanting to retain your bulletin board and community center, or who are concerned about Levi and Dan, might be to pool your money and open a real community center and have Levi and Dan run it. The postal service is a business and it's failing because of pressure and sniveling like this. Your bulletin board is costing taxpayers over 200,000 a year in salaries alone. Close it. Close the Valley post office too. Suspend Saturday delivery. Shorten their hours. Cut staff. Adopt a real business model. Because if we keep treating the US Postal Service as a work program (it's the federal government's largest non-military employer) then before long we won't have anything. The whole enchilada will be contracted out to private industry. How are Levi and Dan going to like that?
I do know the names of the
I do know the names of the people who work in the Valley PO, and they know mine. Whoopty do. It all nice and warm and fuzzy. Bottom line is our country is going down the tubes because we are spending ourselves into a very deep hole. Do I like that Live and Dan would be transfered? No, but that life. Close the Fed Bldg and transfer it to Douglas? Sorry, Douglas isnt big enough. The Fed Bldg is the main hub, like it or not. But I dont really care if its there or in Douglas, just as long as the price of operating goes down. I would even supporet going to one PO for the town. Instead we will do a big survey to listen to everybodies whines, then do nothing, and it will end up costing us more.
sigh
Wow - I guess the call for civility didn't quite reach up to these parts of the world yet. Well, it is true that Alaska has always been about two years behind the national trend and I haven't seen any sign of civility there.
We are all part of this community. And expressing one's opinion about what should happen with public funds isn't sniveling, it's just one way to participate in our representative democracy.
@kp - that's great that you know their names. i said not "many" so that clearly doesn't include you. but it is a big deal in this age of terrible service, lowered expectations of both private and public organizations, and a general apathy about money always trumping any other consideration - i don't support maintaining the Douglas PO because it is warm and fuzzy, but because it's a valuable service.
Yes, budgets need to be cut. And it's through this process of public discussion and consideration that we attempt to make the best choices, get the biggest bang for the buck. Why that engenders personal attacks is a mystery to me. We all want a functioning and economically stable country, we might just have different ideas of how to get there.
Not meaning it as a personal
Not meaning it as a personal attack, but do you feel that it is fiscally responsible to have 5, count them 5, postal service outposts in an area of less than 20 miles? There is the Fed bldg, Douglas, the downtown thingy in one of the tourist shops, Mendenhall, and Auke Bay.
Also, I have always gotten pleasant service in the Mendenhall branch. We dont hold 15 minute conversations about the weather and such, because there are other people in line who need served as well. Maybe there isnt enough business in Douglas if they have time for all that chitchat? It also seems a waste since all these people are going to get their groceries next to a different post office anyway.
Should Haines get another post office? Its out of their way to come in from Skeeter lake just to get their mail. POW should have about 50-60 PO scattered around by that logic.
You also arent forced to use a PO box. Many people utilize the home delivery option, which is free.
distraction...
Please don't let my flippant use of an apparently offensive adjective distract from my point. Sorry if I offended anyone. But that doesn't change the fact that we can't afford superfluous convenience. Plain and simple. And so far no one in these comments has demonstrated a real need for the Douglas PO. Lots of wants, but no needs. Heck, I want it too. I love the place. Teh service there is fabulous. The people are great. The cannon is wicked cool. But as a tax payer I'm tired of funding other people's wants. Because of that I cannot, in good conscience, advocate that you pay for mine.
Auke Bay
I have rented a box at the Auke Bay Post Office since 1983, but I would rather see that one closed than the Douglas Post Office. Folks from out the road would need only to drive a couple more miles to the Valley PO if that were the case. While the staff at Auke Bay are pleasant enough, there is no sense of community. On the other hand, when I need counter service, I'll try to integrate that with a trip to Douglas because of the outstanding service and the general sense of community that I get there. Sadly, though, I doubt that those criteria will be considered by the powers that be.
I did find it interesting when someone pointed out a few weeks ago that by renting a PO Box, I am assuming the cost of getting my mail (time, gas, etc), but if I choose not to rent one, the Post Office will spend whatever it takes to get my mail to me. If you think about it, it seems that they have the business model backwards.
I just recently moved to
I just recently moved to Juneau. This whole thing about closing Douglas's post office is absurd to me. Especially since i live on a street that doesn't get the home delivery option and have to use a PO Box which i have at Douglas's Post Office! So if they had to close one I'd say the tourist trapped one. And I see no need for me to have to go Downtown or out to the Valley when i can mail packages just down the road.
Newby, Where do you buy your
Newby, Where do you buy your groceries?
Sacrifice:
Wasn’t it Obama who said “Everyone must sacrifice for the greater good…? Everyone must have some skin in the game.”
I side with you KP.
close downtown office instead
Downtown has no parking, long lines, next to no service. I have stood at the package pickup door for 30 min, while I could hear the employees gossip, yet they didn't feel like responding to the bell or the knock on the door. I was finally thrown the package without the employee even glancing my way.
Douglas Post Office is a whole other world. Quick competent and caring service. It would be a shame to loose the most functional office.
So comment to management that
So comment to management that the Douglas employees need to replace the fed bldg employees
Agreed...
Douglas employees bury the downtown employees. Downtown the carriers do their jobs, but at the counter the employees blow.
These are hard times...
If we must cut back, we must. To put my convenience where my mouth is, if someone wants to toss a coin in the air to decide whether to close either the Douglas office, or the Fed Building, where I pick up my mail, I will accept the decision. Either way, we must tighten up our belts, and either way the down townies or the Douglas people can get by with a little trip to the mail box once a week.
Sorry. Our whole country is going to have to suck it up a little in many little ways. The times are changing.