As most of you know, the Ola Post Office is on "the list" for closure. We need to prevent this from happening! The person with the U.S. Postal Service that needs to hear our concerns is-
Linda Pickett, U.S. Postal Service, Salt Lake City District Office-1-801-974-2547. She is the Consumer Affairs person. She needs to hear that for the community of Ola, it is imperative that our
full service post office stay open for just a few of the following reasons:
- If Ola closes, the nearest full service post office would be-33 miles to Emmett or 32 miles to Horseshoe Bend.
- Internet access is limited to our residents for printing on-line labels for flat rate boxes, buying stamps, etc. Our Internet access, for some is unreliable, for others not within their fixed income budget and for others, age hinders their desire or ability to learn the computer world.
- Our community relys heavily on our full service post office for certified letters, money orders, package mailing and receiving.
- A "Village" post office wouldn't work, with only one business in Ola, the hours and service wouldn't "service" the community needs.
- Community boxes (the big, multi-mail boxes you see at the entrance of some subdivisions) wouldn't work because certified letters and large packages would still have to be picked up 32 or 33 miles away.
- The Ola Post Office is the gateway for the residents of High Valley. HV residents rely on Ola for mail because they don't have winter access to their mail in Smith's Ferry.
- By closing rural post offices, the United States Postal Service is taking the "service" part out.
- We would lose our identity, we are and want to stay from Ola-83657!
These are a few of the points we need to make. It is also important to emphasize that this lady probably has no idea where Ola is or how important our post office is compared to others which are not so isolated. Please take the time to call this lady, our full service post office depends on it. The only way we're going to have an impact is for everyone to call Linda Pickett@1-801-974-2547
Right now we're just another name on a long list of locations. The only way we can change this is for EVERYONE to call to let Linda Pickett know why we are different than the others. I think we can all agree that there is no other place like Ola, and we need to explain why to Linda.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with Linda Pickett today, and she indicated that the post office closure notice went out nationwide prior to any feasibility study. Linda is only the keeper of the files and makes no decisions. However, she is willing to be the recipient of any letters of appeal from us. As Linda stressed, the closure announcement is all pre-decisional. The next step is a feasibility study by USPS which will focus on the costs of providing service. The public will then be asked to comment. Please write or email Linda NOW to let USPS know about the pressing need to keep postal service alive & well in Ola. Linda Pickett, 1760 West 2100 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84119-9605 or linda.s.pickett@usps.gov.
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