Aromas residents worry the USPS is looking close local
office
The site of Aromas’ post office since 1965, the building at 368
Blohm Ave. is for sale. Despite assurances from postal service
staff that the town will not lose its service, residents are
concerned.
Aromas residents worry the USPS is looking close local office
The site of Aromas’ post office since 1965, the building at 368 Blohm Ave. is for sale. Despite assurances from postal service staff that the town will not lose its service, residents are concerned.
The lease on the building is up in October, said Augustine Ruiz, a postal service spokesperson for the Bay Valley district.
Staff for the postal service negotiated for another lease, Ruiz said. The price would have been cost prohibitive, Ruiz said.
“They were asking a little more than double,” Ruiz said.
Aromas will retain a site with post office boxes and full counter service, Ruiz said.
The postmaster at Aromas, Ray Furuta, is not convinced.
“It’s good that people are concerned,” he said. “People should be concerned, because we never know really what can happen.”
The U.S. Postal Service has had a site in Aromas since 1892, Furuta said.
Aromas is a small town of roughly 2,800 people. Residents know each other. Neighbors wave and strangers stop to chat. Downtown, white picket fences border several front yards. Flowering trees bloom.
Michelle McDougall has lived in Aromas for 11 years. Her husband was born and raised there.
“The postal service is giving us different pieces of information,” McDougall said, “which has us worried that the postal service is keeping it quiet until it’s too late to find another venue.”
McDougall has been working with a committee of concerned citizens who are dedicated to keeping an outpost in Aromas.
“I think that nobody’s really looked at our community,” McDougall said. Maureen Cain, a resident of Aromas for 10 years, is a member of the committee.
“The for sale sign went up on the post office,” Cain said. “Everyone said, ‘Wait, what’s going on here?'”
Members of the group are concerned that postal service staff will use the building’s sale as an excuse to outsource service to another town, Cain said.
It has happened before, said John Gregg, a retired postmaster and member of the National Association of Postmasters of the United States (NAPUS). Gregg is the California representative for the committee on post office closing and consolidations for NAPUS.
“In the last 24 months, they closed over 220 post offices,” Gregg said.
There are many ways in which a town can lose its post office, Gregg said.
“The most classic version of that would be to say we haven’t been able to find a suitable lease,” Gregg said.
Under those circumstances, the post office would be closed on an emergency basis, Gregg said. Service would then be transferred to a neighboring town.
“After a while they finally post the closing,” Gregg said. “But by that time everybody is usually used to going someplace else. This is a real trend.”
At a meeting regarding the post office in Aromas on March 2, representatives from the post office assured attendees that Aromas residents would not lose their post office, Gregg said.
“I would say being vigilant is their best protection,” Gregg said. “The key to any community keeping its post office is having local people who are willing to take the lead.”
Linda Murdock, an Aromas resident, organized the town meeting.Due to the reduction in service, the postmater’s salary will be frozen, postal representatives said at the meeting, according to Murdock. She also said that representatives from the post office attending the meeting said they had a list of possible new sites.
“We have people here who very much want to buy the post office and lease it back to them,” Murdock said. “We’ve got people here willing to do something like that.”
With more than 100 home-based businesses, some residents are especially concerned, said Randy Peyser, an Aromas resident who owns a consulting company for book publishers. Driving six miles to Watsonville to pick up mail everyday would be a nightmare, she said.
“I have certified mail constantly coming and going,” Peyser said. “It would be a major consideration of staying in the community. If it’s affecting my business model, it’s going to be affecting other businesses.”
The Aromas post office is a safe place to get mail at night, said Alicia Howard. Her son Michael, 10, sometimes picks up the family’s mail.
“If we go garage saling, I can go ride my bike to get the mail,” Howard said.
Not everyone in the community could drive to get their mail, said Jeff Hardy, owner of a local feed store.
“There are a lot of older folks in this community, including my parents who are 83.” Hardy said. “They go down to the post office everyday.”
The meeting alleviated much of his concern, Hardy said.
“When they said we are not going to get rid of your post office, that put me at ease,” Hardy said.
The Bay Valley district, the postal district that encompasses Aromas, includes 99 post offices. No post offices in the district have been closed or are in danger of closing, Ruiz said.
