Post office closing is a shady deal

I am a Francitas resident and I am writing this letter regarding the closing of the Francitas Post Office. I have been living in Francitas for the past nine years and have seen the importance of the post office in my community. The post office was first established in 1911 with Hardy, Chase O. named as the first Post Master on Jan. 26. Closing the post office would be detrimental to our town and we feel that the reasons given to close the Post Office not only goes against current law, but have been skewed to favor an undesirable decision.

Dean J Granholm, vice president of Delivery and Post Office Operation, states the reasons for the closure was lack of revenue, “performing below standards to operate as an independent Post Office,” the lack thereof was caused by the Post Office management themselves. Services were not available to customers that would increase and sustain revenue for a Post Office to be self-sufficient.

No improvements were made to solve the issue at hand and customers were not aware of any closing. The notice the residence received was an article in the Jackson County Herald-Tribune.

The “Final Determination to close the Francitas, TX Post Office”, was not mailed/sent to any box holder in the community. USPS posted a form with small font in a glass box where no one could read or see the information.

Francitas box holders asked for a copy of the “Final Determination to close the Francitas, TX Post Office” and were denied a copy so no one could send an appeal or make a complaint.

According to Postal Regulatory Commission, maintaining all small and rural post offices amount to less than 0.7% of USPS total operating budget.

Current law prohibits the USPS from closing or consolidating a post office due to financial reasons. Refer to section 101 (b) of Title 39 of the U.S. Code.

USPS had a written agreement with Francitas residents that the post office was going to remain open for two hours every day (Monday – Saturday 8 to 10 a.m.). This policy only happened for three days.

USPS posted a position for the job for only a week and then took it off.

USPS claims that they have to close the “Francitas Post Office” as an “emergency closing” because they have no one that wants to work. When in fact: they had an employee who was verbally harassed by his superior and had to quit. The USPS employee filed a complaint with USPS executives but nothing was done. The USPS employee currently does not work there, but would like to continue to do so.

Other Francitas residents have wanted to apply for the position but were denied due to the cancelation of the post office.

Service to box holders and customers are being denied. For example: cannot open a new post office box and cannot buy stamps.

USPS executives are giving false reports to Francitas residence when they call to ask for information.

USPS executives claim that they are not able to find a place to put cluster boxes, when in fact they contacted the County Commissioner (Precinct 4) and he agreed to it as long as they put up a light for safety reasons. USPS executives declined his offer and are now making Francitas box holders travel to La Ward to retrieve their mail (8 miles away) without any notice to the Francitas box holders. Impossible for most people in the community.

Francitas residents have requested for rural route carriers to mail directly to their home and are being denied access.

In conclusion, I do not agree with the current decision to close the Francitas Post Office. This request not only outlines the reasons the Post Office should remain open, but identifies the mistakes made by the USPS Management and Executives in making the initial proposal to close the Post Office. As current Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe decisively states, “Despite taking aggressive steps to reduce costs, the U.S. Service will not survive as a self-financing entity without significant changes to current law” (USPS News Release #11-021). For more information about the Francitas Post Office, please call Curtis Howell (361) 293-2231 or Daniel Reyes (210) 368-551.

Carolina Jalufka

Francitas, Texas