Post Office

One of the major problems facing the U.S. Postal Service is that fewer people are using first class mail. If all of the 14 million people who belong to brother and sister unions to the postal workers union stopped using the Internet to receive and pay bills, do their banking and send electronic messages, and only used the USPS for their transactions, the post office would certainly be in better financial shape. Perhaps it would even solve most of their financial problems. Unfortunately, union members only show their solidarity by showing up at protest demonstrations.

Key senators reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to save a mail processing center considered significant to the Eastern Shore economy but left the fate of more than a dozen post offices in the Baltimore region uncertain as they considered a sweeping bill to overhaul theU.S. Postal Service. The underlying bipartisan legislation, which is poised for a vote in the Senate Wednesday, would allow the cash-strapped mail service to inch closer to ending Saturday delivery after a two-year waiting period and also restructure the way it pays retiree health benefits - potentially saving the agency billions of dollars a year.

Baltimore firefighters and BGE crews were on the scene Monday morning of a one-alarm fire reported at a production building adjacent to the main U.S. post office downtown. Firefighters were able to use carbon dioxide extinguishers to put out the fire and remove smoke from the building at 901 E. Fayette St. The fire was confined to an electrical panel in a utility room near a loading dock and posed no danger to employees or customers, officials said. The post office remained open during the incident, which was first reported at 8:13 a.m. Chief Kevin Cartwright called the incident "benign.

On deadline day at Liberty Tax Service on Harford Road, a young woman in a green Statue of Liberty costume stood out front waving frantically at passing cars. But on Tuesday morning, you'd never know a deadline was looming from the relative calm inside the Parkville storefront office. Two tax preparers sat across desks from customers, methodically entering information into forms on their computers. Manager Neil Riordan figured most people had no idea they had two extra days to file their tax returns, since the 15th fell on a Sunday and Monday was a local holiday in Washington, D.C. Riordan said the office saw a rush of down-to-the-wire filers last week.

Ten Baltimore area post offices are at risk of closing. They are among 41 in Maryland and 3,700 nationwide that the Postal Service says it can no longer afford to operate, either because they don't have enough patrons or are located near another post office. That's sad news to those who rely on one of them for services or a sense of community. But the sadder news is that as necessary as the Postal Service's announcement was this week, it was also wholly insufficient. The postal service stands on its own - it does not rely on taxpayer funds, and in a time when technology and competition from private delivery services are cutting into its business, it is in a severe financial pinch.

Workers at the city's main post office on Fayette Street were prepping Thursday morning for the annual late-night Tax Day rush, albeit a more casual version than that of a decade ago. On April 15 back then, the hours leading up to midnight took on a carnival-like feel. "Years ago, when there was only mailing, we'd have IRS people in the lobby helping people fill out forms," said William Ridenour, postmaster of Baltimore. "We'd have people coming in with a box of receipts doing their tax forms at 11 at night.

The future of a Clarksville post office location remains unclear, despite an offer from Howard County of rent-free property at the Gateway school site on Route 108. Postal officials are evaluating the proposal, said Freda Sauter, spokeswoman for the Postal Service's Baltimore district, which includes most of Maryland. She could not give a time frame for when a decision would be made. Operations have been merged with the Ellicott City branch about 11 miles away. Howard County has offered a 7.8-acre parcel at 12240 Route 108, near Great Star Drive, under a zero-dollar ground lease for at least two years, according to a news release from County Executive Ken Ulman's office.

A burglar broke into the West Friendship Post Office early yesterday and stole a computer system, postage printer and scanners that the postal service says have a lot of value to the government, but won't fetch much for the thief, unless he has the passwords. Without the passwords, "the computer has no use to anyone outside the post office," spokesman Frank J. Schissler said. "Maybe they thought that they could sell the computer's guts to a pawn shop, but its guts are not a basic PC system.

BAH, HUMBUG! on the U.S. Postal Service.That's what I used to think, especially at Christmas as I addressed cards and prepared gift parcels for mailing. There's always a story about how the post office mangles, misdelivers or loses Christmas mail.But it took a recent experience to make me realize that the Postal Service may be getting a bad rap. Last week on one of the busiest postal days of the year -- 3.2 million pieces of mail moved in the Baltimore metropolitan area, more than three times the normal volume -- I dropped 35 cards in a mailbox in Govans.

PLAYING POST OFFICE is something little kids enjoy while they are in primary school. The game becomes even more entertaining for children in the pubescent years, when the rules change.But the post office game is not a lot of fun when you're an adult, and they change the playing fields.A post office should provide the appearance of dependable stability, of relative permanence, of defining presence. It identifies the heart of Main Street in many a small town, and large ones, too. It is as much a part of the community's center as a town hall, the courthouse or a library.

Your article on cost cutting at the Postal Service is an ominous indication of the progress of the far-right campaign to destroy the U.S. Post Office, which has served our nation since its beginning and is enshrined in Article I of our Constitution ("Postal Service cost-cutting may deliver blow to Easton," March 10). Contrary to the lies being propagated by those who would leave us at the mercy of FedEx and other private competitors, the USPS is not broke and has not used any taxpayer money since 1971.

My husband and I have long used a post office box at the Roland Park post office for business mail. Our street address includes the letter “B,” which presents a problem for mail sorters and carriers, who don't know that our house is separate from the one next door with identical numbers, but no letter. The post office box has always been a prompt way to receive mail until recently. Mail addressed to our box now seems to arrive later than mail that comes to the house.

Baltimore firefighters and BGE crews were on the scene Monday morning of a one-alarm fire reported at a production building adjacent to the main U.S. post office downtown. Firefighters were able to use carbon dioxide extinguishers to put out the fire and remove smoke from the building at 901 E. Fayette St. The fire was confined to an electrical panel in a utility room near a loading dock and posed no danger to employees or customers, officials said. The post office remained open during the incident, which was first reported at 8:13 a.m. Chief Kevin Cartwright called the incident "benign.

Some property owners in the 21042 zip code in Ellicott City did not receive their tax bills mailed out earlier this month, prompting county officials to request a post office investigation Second installment notices were sent to all semi-annual tax bill payers Dec.1, but some homeowners in the 21042 zip code still haven't received their bills. The Department of Finance is mailing residents in the area who still have a balance due a replacement bill this week. Residents whose bills have already been paid can ignore the new bill.

Since Baltimore police ousted the members of Occupy Baltimore from their encampment at the Inner Harbor's McKeldin Square last week, the activists have been deliberating about where -- and whether -- to continue a physical encampment. Jessica Lewis, a member of the Occupy Baltimore media team, said the activists are considering several locations that could provide a symbolic backdrop. One option, Lewis said, is for Occupy Baltimore members to move their encampment to the site of the state's new proposed juvenile jail in East Baltimore, off East Madison Street, between Graves and Forrest Streets.

What sacrifice is Congress making in order to improve the U.S. Postal Service efficiency and reduce costs ("'Snail mail' could get slower under Post Service plan," Nov. 6)? All I see are sacrifices made to the consumer. Why not start by cutting out Congressional mailings? In 2007, the Congressional Research Service prepared a report for Congress advising representatives that the "franking" privilege had cost taxpayers $113.4 million in current dollars from 1988 to 2007. House members spent more than $45 million in 2009 on taxpayer-funded mass mailings.

With the closing of the Middleburg post office this month, residents of that small western Carroll County town now have to drive down the road to Uniontown or Keymar to pick up their letters, mail a parcel or register an important packet.One thing they won't be able to do is to pick up the latest town gossip or keep up with local events listed on the wall of the post office that served as the unofficial meeting place and town hall for the community. The trend toward post office consolidation, postal zip codes instead of postmarks, and sharp Postal Service cost-cutting has finally caught up with Middleburg.

It might take an act of Congress to open the Westminster post office, or at least an inquiry from Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett.The Western Maryland Republican wrote to Postmaster General William J. Henderson yesterday urging him to open the newly built post office in Englar Road Business Center. Construction was completed in the fall."There is considerable concern in Carroll County over the continued delay in opening" the U.S. Postal Service facility, Bartlett wrote. The building "appears to be ready to serve the public, but it remains closed and inoperative -- much to the public's dismay."

'Tis the season for long lines at the post office. Already, things are off to a rocky start around our neighborhood.    At the Mount Washington post office last week, all three terminals had computer malfunctions. No one could use a credit card, because the computer system for credit card payment was beyond sluggish. It was not working. Two transactions were in progress awaiting the computers to sign off. Those of us in line waited and waited, until one woman offered cash for her transaction.

For years the Howard County Welcome Center operated from a small and rather unwelcoming space on the basement level of Ellicott City's old Post Office on Main Street. A fallout shelter sign by the entrance set a less-than-inviting tone. Despite the cramped quarters and lack of visibility from Main Street, more than 20,000 people a year stop by to learn about shops, restaurants, theaters, inns and attractions in Howard County and beyond. Visitors have come from 39 states, 18 countries and three territories.