Canceled: US Postal Service proposes closing the Fairfield post office

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Thursday, April 14, 2011, 1:30 a.m. — The U.S. Postal Service has announced its plan to close the Fairfield Post Office.

• Click here to view/download the “Invitation to comment on the proposal to close the Fairfield, Ky. post office;
• Click here to view/download the official “Proposal to close the Fairfield, Ky. post office;
• Click here to view/download a copy of the “Optional Comment Form.“

Citing declining workload and minimal growth in the area, the USPS proposal dated April 7, 2011 details its plans for closing the office. The notice starts a 60-day comment period for community members to evaluate the proposal and offer feedback.

Following the end of the 60-day comment period, the feedback will be evaluated before a final determination is made. If the final decision is to close the post office, there will be a minimum 60-day notice given to customers prior to the closure. After the final decision is posted there is a 30-day window for customers to appeal the decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

The proposal states that Fairfield mail would be delivered to the existing post office boxes or to cluster box units (CBUs), which are free-standing units of individual, locking mail boxes. The CBUs would be used only if the post office cannot lease space in the present location.

All mail service to Fairfield would be provided by the Bloomfield Post Office. Fairfield would keep its unique zip code.

Currently, there is no mail delivery for Fairfield postal customers; the mail is delivered to the offices’ postal office boxes.  The proposal notes that the office averaged 19 window transactions accounting for 17 minutes of retail workload daily. The post office has 93 post office box customers.

The proposal comes at a time of increasing financial losses for the USPS, which lost $8.5 million last year and continues to face additional losses this year. It has proposed cutting 7,500 employees and ending Saturday delivery as a way of cutting costs. Over the past two years, the post office has eliminated 105,000 full-time positions. In the past six months, the USPS has closed more than 200 offices and 80 smaller postal stations and branches.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK ADDRESSED. The proposal includes the results of a February questionnaire and the postal service’s responses to concerns voiced at a March 14th community meeting about the post office.

The proposal included factual errors about Fairfield, stating that it is “an unincorporated community located in Nelson County” and is “administered politically by Nelson County Fiscal Court.”

The proposal estimated elimination of the Fairfield post office will save the service $39,443.

-30-