Three West Side postal offices appear on the list of sites slated for closing:
◆ 4222 W. Madison St.
◆ 324 S. Laramie Ave.
◆ 5001 W. Division St.
In all, 13 Chicago area sites are on the U.S. Postal Service’s list.
Postal Service officials will make a final decision on the closings sometime this fall, Chicago district spokesman Mark Reynolds told the Chicago Sun-Times.
No office will close before December.
Nationwide, postal officials are eyeing nearly 3,700 retail offices out of about 32,000 such sites to help close a record deficit, which could top $9 billion.
Closing the 3,653 post offices would save about $200 million annually, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Postal officials say as more customers do their postal business online, on their smart phones and at their favorite shopping destinations, the need for the U.S. Postal Service to maintain all its retail offices — the largest retail network in the country — diminishes.
“Our customer’s habits have made it clear that they no longer require a physical post office to conduct most of their postal business,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a press release.
good i hope they shut down the one on madison.worst post office ever.I was told I get to much mail.and they dont deliver packages,I have to go to post office to pick up.last week the postman was one house away when i went to get the mail and there was a delivery slip in the box.I called to him saying i was home,wheres the package? he didnt have it I would have to pick it up this has been going on for over ten years.sometimes the mail dosent get delivered for days.
If this happens we will not have a post office in Austin or West Garfield? The only other post office I can recall is on Division and Cicero. We will have nothing in our neighborhood. Both Jewel grocery stores closed years ago and left us to commute to nearby Oak Park for anything other than traditional “black folks food”. We do not have a decent chain store grocery or otherwise in our neighborhood. But if you travel either north or south on Cicero, there’s plenty of shopping. Now all of the area post offices are under review. I truly understand the dilemma the USPS is facing with the internet taking over communications, but there must be a better way. Who’s looking out for Austin’s best interests?……no one?
No one. Our elected officials don’t care because community residents do not and will not vote. Danny Davis’ office should be contacted concerning the closing of the post offices in his district however good luck with receiving a response back.
The division branch is the slowest. I simply elect to drive to the main post office downtown or Oak Park for that very reason. I have complained and spoken to the postmaster however they offer nothing but excuses.
There used to be two huge clerks who sat in chairs at the service window to service patrons. How lazy is that?
You didn’t include the Otis Grant Collins Post Office on your list of West Side Post Offices identified as a target for closures. This office is busy every day, and the mail carriers have a great relationship with the community. It would be a shame to see this office close. If it closes, along with the offices listed above, what would West Siders do? This is a huge disservice to the African American community, not to mention inconveniences to seniors and people with mobility issues. As for those offices that are “slow”, why not change personnel? It’s critical thatall communities have access to Post Offices.