ST. JOHN, Wash – In St. John, a small town in rural eastern Washington, there's a fight brewing.
It's over the town's sole post office. So far, it's not at risk of full closure, but its hours are being cut. And the townspeople are upset because they say the USPS admitted it used the wrong data when deciding on that reduction, and now won't fix it.
"I feel that the post office is negligent in their decision," Michelle Welch told KHQ, who is the local pharmacist at St. John Pharmacy.
A community meeting over the future of the post office was held recently, where some 200 people attended. At that meeting, townspeople say, a USPS representative admitted it didn't count the second zip code the office serves in looking at whether the office qualified for full-time hours – essentially wiping out 1 in 6 customers.
"The USPS has admitted they've not used the right data, and they have the right data, and they still aren't going to make any changes, they're not going to review it, they're not going to change it," said Debra Fitzgerald, a former employee at the St. John Post Office.
If nothing is done, come February 23rd, the rural office will only be open 6 hours a day, not 8. Also, the town's beloved postmaster of 20 years will be re-assigned to a new office.
"He knows everybody, and for him to leave would be heartbreaking, really," resident Samantha Hergert told KHQ.
For a town that depends on small business, the reduction may have a big impact. The pharmacy, for instance, depends on mail orders.
"By cutting hours it's going to probably end up adding days to when [customers] get their prescriptions, and it gives patients choices, and they may go somewhere else and then I'd lose a lot of business," Welch added.
"We really rely on that post office, and for it to be cut two hours is damaging. And we need that. And we have the numbers for that 8 hour day," Hergert explained, who owns Highway 23 Auto Repair with her husband.
Now, they're hoping something is done before their town loses an icon.
"The 2 hour change is just the tip of the iceberg," Fitzgerald said, adding that in the future, rural routes may be shifted, and the office could eventually be closed entirely.
KHQ reached out to the USPS representative who reportedly admitted to the data error, but our calls were not immediately returned.
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