JAMESBURG – The United States Postal Service (USPS) is considering downsizing the Jamesburg Post Office.
“One of the reasons we are here today is to discuss what our options are for the Jamesburg Post Office,” Kurtis Bullard, real estate specialist for the USPS, said during the June 20 Borough Council meeting.
The post office is located at 13 E. Railroad Ave.
“We have had some issues with the current building; it’s an oversized building [and] we are looking for a smaller space to save some money. We only need about 1,000 square feet. We just need to maintain our retail component,” Bullard said.
Currently, there is a 30-day community contact period that ends on July 20. Comments may be sent to Bullard, United States Postal Service, P.O. Box 27497, Greensboro, NC 27498-1103.
“We will gather all the information, gather any concerns. I can’t answer the questions directly, but I will send them to one of our management or communications departments [to] see if I can get you an answer there, depending on what the specific question is,” Bullard said.
Bullard said the postal service will then close the comment period, review the information and produce a final determination letter explaining its plan for the post office. He said members of the community would have the right to appeal the decision, and then the process could start over again.
“The basis of this meeting is in the context of real estate and to let the public know we have some different plans and different ideas out there for the post office and we want feedback from the community,” he said.
Councilman Sandy Sussman said with so many people shopping online today, the post office may eventually need the space that is already available at the current location.
Bullard replied, “That is an ongoing challenge to see what the future holds, 30 or 40 years down the road. In the context of real estate, I am only really approved to come in and negotiate a 10-year lease, so because of the financial situation nobody really wants to commit to anything too long and we still don’t know the full scope of the online presence. … Given the certain information we have now, we have to just kind of proceed forward with what we have now and of course within the rules and guidance of our management.”
Postal service administrators are currently looking at several properties for a new post office location, according to Bullard, but did not state where. He said the postal service is in discussions with its current landlord to see what he would like to do with the building on East Railroad Avenue.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].