Lapins right on the money on Pinehurst Post Office
The U.S. Post Office is struggling mightily, right along with the rest of us, during these terrible economic times. Hamstrung by the demands of the postal workers union and an ever-growing list of regulations from the federal government, the public-private organization is short on solutions for paying its bills. The only seriously viable option is closing redundant or low-volume facilities and consolidating those operations elsewhere.
Those are tough calls to make. In many small communities, the post office is a social center of life. People meet there to visit with neighbors and catch up on the local “news.” But these tough economic times call for tough decisions to get our economic houses in order.
The closure of the downtown Pinehurst branch office has become an issue in the current village council race. The downtown situation has issues that go far beyond whether the post office is there — in operation — or not.
I had to say “Amen” after reading the op-ed in today’s edition of The Pilot by village councilman Doug Lapins. I encourage all interested Pinehurst voters to read the linked story, or pick up a hard copy of the paper, to get a rational, sensible argument on the post office closure and the downtown situation.
I do have to part ways with him on the idea of a public/private mail delivery alternative for the core village. I don’t know how you would work that out legally. Also, the main post office on NC 5 is NOT that far away from the core village area.
Lapins expressed disappointment at the turnout at a work session to discuss the post office closure. I am sure that meeting was held at 10AM on a weekday — when MOST people under 65 are at work. You could likely increase attendance at council meetings by having more meetings after 5PM — like just about EVERY OTHER municipality in the state does. (Think hard about making THAT change, Doug.)
thanks for your comments. two items. Public / Private partnership is
very practical – not joint ownership, but structure may take some
imagination. suppose VoP rents space for public restrooms / info
center / pays for installation of restrooms / long term rental
agreement / whatever. Operated by private operator just like track
restaurant, for example. Not groundbreaking – bet similar approaches
have been successfully done elsewhere. will to do it and a partner, i
bet it
The law does not allow for private companies to deliver mail to curbside mailboxes. Someone could open a business similar to Mailboxes, Etc. or something along those lines. That would still involve people coming to the post office to check boxes. No delivery to homes.
to handle this separately – you will note that VoP has one evening
work session per month. This was done on my initiative and only after
overcoming great resistance at the time by other members. I researched
all other entities in Moore County and found that VoP was the only one
with NO evening meetings. we ended up with a compromise – early 5:30
public and one council member even instructed the clerk to record
evening attendance to prove that residents would not come. my point
was NOT that it would be better attended, but one of accessability for
working and younger residents. local retirees do not like the PM
meeting so maybe my compromise has tried to meet all needs. Maybe…
I did not realize your part in getting at least one evening meeting. Thanks for that. The problem with attendance is this: No one knows, in advance, the meeting schedule or agenda. The Pilot does a terrible job at keeping us posted about what’s going on in village hall. You have to work really hard to find out the council meeting schedule, and what’s on the agenda. That’s not fair. That’s not right. Get the info to me, in advance, and I will put it out there. Our local readership is growing by leaps and bounds. There is a lot of interest in this upcoming council election, and the activities at village hall.
Their media manipulation and misinformation is so good that nearly no one realizes the American tragedy that is taking place right in front of us. Almost no media coverage, no discussion or truthful information is forthcoming. Not even the postal workers seem to understand the true magnitude of what is happening. To most of them it’s just a job, but in reality, for all Americans and our children’s children it is about the destruction of a great country from within. Every tangible object bought or sold on the Internet has to be shipped. Without shipping the Internet is only half an entity and would be nearly worthless except for e mail and information.
Happening now is a well orchestrated power play to eliminate the USPS from the trillion dollar internet shipping business, and sell Americans down the drain again.
The United States Postal Service has the largest shipping infrastructure on earth. It is tax exempt and is non profit. No other shipper can compete with the Post Office, so they have used lobbyists and our own lawmakers to destroy the USPS. They are in the process of selling off the infrastructure today and in the coming months. The Post Office Can and has generated massive revenues for our treasury. It’s more than just stealing trillions of dollars from the public again.
Ben Franklin, the first Postmaster General couldn’t see the Internet coming but he and others were insightful enough to realize that we have the right to a free flow of correspondence and conveyance of materials without profiteers and possibly foreign entities having any control over it. We can’t let the USPS be turned into a utility bill and junk mail delivery service while the multinationals liquidate the real estate and equipment that took the American people more than 200 years to acquire. Our USPS is a big part of what makes America great.
Take a look at these web sites.
This one shows just part of what they are stealing from all Americans right now.
http://www.savethepostoffice.com/new-deal-post-offices
This one talks about the corrupt legislation that sold us out.
http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/07/8191425-twisted-government-accounting-behind-postal-service-woes
This one has petitions we can use to reverse the laws and stop this treason before they pull it off completely.
http://www.saveamericaspostalservice.org/
Also look into H.R. 5746 which is not on their web site. The bill, which was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on July 15, would alter the methodology for allocating the Postal Service’s share of pension costs.