Five Area Post Offices On The 2011 Proposed Closing List

Washington, DC – Five area post offices are on the list of almost 3700 offices across the county slated to be closed in an effort to reduce losses by the US Postal Service. They are Buckeye, WV, Bacova and Williamsville in Bath County, and Headwaters and Doe Hill in Highland County. According to the US Postmaster General, this list is based on three criteria – short business hours, diminished volume, and little foot traffic. The next step for the Postal Service will be a comprehensive evaluation by postal analysts, who will weigh changes to each post office.

The announcement comes after the USPS posting net losses for several months, the results of revenues not keeping up with operating costs. The proposed closing is especially hard for those who use the Williamsville office in Bath County. In late 2010, the Williamsville Post Office opened in a new location after losing its lease in the previous location. It took almost two years and a lot of community involvement to find and relocate the new office critical to this small rural community. Bonnie Ralston was there for the reopening of the post office in November 2010. In this excerpt from her story, we hear from Pam Webb of Concerned Citizens to Save the Williamsville Post Office.

“We made all of the effort in the world to keep it and luckily all of our efforts worked” says Webb. “We stood together and we got the job done. I think it was just meant to be. I’m very excited; I’m one of the happiest people on the face of the earth!”

Likewise Ladonna Smith, Officer in Charge at the Williamsville PO, acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the Williamsville community.

“I don’t think there’s too many communities you could find as awesome as this community” she says. “There’s talent here, from every direction talented people stepped up and did the work and here we are.”

Now it appears that the citizens of Williamsville, and possibly the other communities on the list may have a much harder fight on their hands to keep their post offices open.