Johnson Post Office Closes

Jean Helmer, sales associate at the Johnson Post Office, right, helps Kim Foster on Friday in Johnson. Foster said he uses Johnson’s Post Office about three times a week and doesn’t think closing it is in the best interest of Johnson or the Postal Service. Friday was the last day the office was open. All post office box service will be moved to the Fayetteville Post Office on Joyce Boulevard.
Jean Helmer, sales associate at the Johnson Post Office, right, helps Kim Foster on Friday in Johnson. Foster said he uses Johnson’s Post Office about three times a week and doesn’t think closing it is in the best interest of Johnson or the Postal Service. Friday was the last day the office was open. All post office box service will be moved to the Fayetteville Post Office on Joyce Boulevard.

— Mayor Buddy Curry and residents said Friday they’ll adjust to life without a local post office, but they are sad to see the facility close its doors.

The U.S. Postal Service announced in August it would close Johnson’s Post Office, a small building at Main Street and Wilkerson Road. The operation is technically a branch of the Fayetteville Post Office.

“We’ve always had a Post Office as far as I can remember,” Curry said. “We wanted to hang onto it to keep our identity even though it was a Fayetteville branch. Still, everyone thought it was a Johnson Post Office.”

The closing comes as the Postal Service is losing billions. The Postal Service lost $8 billion in 2010, according to The Associated Press. Part of that stems from increased use of electronic communication that has significantly reduced the volume of mail and its associated revenue through the Postal Service.

Barry Barcroft, a 12-year resident, remembered a previous attempt to close the Post Office about 10 years ago.

“At the time, I happened to run into one of the auditors who was here checking the income,” Barcroft said. “He said it was one of the top earners in the area for Post Offices because there’s so much traffic (on Main Drive).”

At A Glance

Rural Post Offices

Other rural post offices in Washington County are under study for possible closing. Decisions are pending on three of the four.

• Cane Hill: The Postal Service decided in September to close the office. A 60-day notice of closing was posted Sept. 29. An appeal was filed Oct. 19 and the process takes 120 days. If the appeal is denied, the post office could close sometime in early 2012.

• Morrow: A community meeting was held Oct. 4 in Morrow. The public comment period ends Nov. 23.

• Summers: A community meeting was held Thursday in Summers. The public comment period ends Nov. 20.

• Evansville: A community meeting was held Tuesday in Evansville. The public comment period ends Nov. 11.

Source: U.S. Postal Service

Barcroft, a retired police officer from Santa Monica, Calif., said he’s on a limited income and will now have to go once a week to his new mailbox at the Post Office on Joyce Boulevard instead of the three times he checks his mail at the Johnson office.

“The one saving grace is that I get to keep my address, my same address, so I don’t have to notify everyone of an address change,” Barcroft said.

Joe Mercurio, a former 27-year mail carrier, said he hates to see the office close in his city.

“I can see their point closing this place because there’s two post offices within a few miles, but it’s just very convenient being here and it’s a community kind of thing because you see people you know,” Mercurio said.

The Postal Service leases the property and the building from Johnson for $5,400 per year. The lease will expire October 2017, said Sam Bolen, spokesman.

“Our Postal Service Facilities Service Office may be able to negotiate an earlier lease termination,” Bolen said.

Curry said the city has not heard from the Postal Service yet about the lease, so future use for that building is yet to be determined. Curry said the lease was renewed last year for several years.

“We took that as a good sign back then, but it didn’t work out that way,” Curry said.

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