Arcade Post Office update
by
Kathy Bloodworth was there. So were more than a hundred other citizens who all feel strongly about saving the Arcade Post Office.
The post office is losing money hand over fist. Postal Officials tell me that 10 BILLION pieces that were mailed in 2008 were not mailed in 2009. That is a tremendous loss of revenue.
Postal Officials need to cut back. They are considering consolidation for 3100 branches. The 100 year old Arcade Post office is the first on the list here in Nashville.
Arcade patrons don’t like it, and started a Save the Post Office Campaign.
Monday night these postal enthusiasts met with Postal Officials to lay it all out on the table.
The meeting was held at the Downtown Library.
Kathy Bloodworth took it all in and reports back to that is Messed Up.
“I felt it was a very positive meeting. There were a lot of opinions out there. It was a very diverse crowd that surprisingly was made up of a lot of lawyers. They mail a lot of certified mail. They apparently send mountains of certified mail.”
Bloodworth said Dave Vale; the postmaster stressed sagging numbers in a sagging economy.
“People in the crowd stood up and spoke with passion. There were people from state workers, and law offices, and divisions of the state and a woman from the IRS.
My over all impression, my bottom line is this. The people in the audience were passionate. Valid points were made. The people delivered a passionate appeal. The question I have is, can they take all of this passion to Washington D.C. Can they sell it in Washington like we did at the Public Library?”
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I asked her how many comment cards the box held.
“We took the contents of the box, I estimate about 4000 signatures, and put them in two big transparent bags so you could see them. It was very impressive. We put it on the steps where they were. One guy, who does tens of thousands of mail pieces, he took his survey card and said loudly; “I would like to add survey number 4001 to the 4000 all ready here.”
How did it end? I asked.
“In the end, as emotional as it was, Dave Vale got up and said the same numbers they quoted earlier. He mentioned how low the numbers for the post office are. They did say no decision was made, but it was like a buzz kill. All of us citizens felt that way. That’s the way it ended. It was like, dude you can’t come to the party no more.”
Bloodworth says postal officials took the comment cards.
“We left them there. They say they will take them to Washington DC.”
Bloodworth left with the impression that a decision on the Arcade Post Office might not come till the Fall.
Here’s a question for the 4,000 people who sent their comment cards wanting to keep the arcade post office open: is it worth a 20% surcharge per item? 30%? Whatever the amount is necessary for that branch to break even?