Residents in Fulton, Dimock upset at post office proposal

• Post office meetings

USPS officials are meeting with residents who stand to lose their local post office.

Talk about it

FULTON — Area residents shared their frustrations and anger with the U.S. Postal Service in two meetings Thursday.

The USPS is conducting meetings to gather input from citizens whose towns’ post offices have been proposed to close. The announcement for possible closures came earlier this year for 80 post offices in South Dakota and 3,700 throughout the country.

Paul Turnbull, manager of post office operations for the 573 and 574 ZIP code areas, visited both Dimock and Fulton on Thursday.

Anna Mae Hofer, co-owner of Hofer’s Lounge and Steakhouse in Dimock, said the general feel of the town’s meeting was civil anger.

“They were angry, in a way, that they were losing it, the possibility of losing the post office,” she said.

Dimock residents are worried about how they will receive their mail. Currently, residences along a couple streets receive mail by a rural carrier. The rest receive their mail through the post office.

However, if the USPS closes Dimock’s post office, the residents who have post office boxes could receive mail in a localized set of boxes, called cluster box units, Turnbull said.

About 50 residents at Fulton also expressed frustration with the situation.

While Turnbull assured the residents they will always receive mail, he told them it just may come in a different manner.

In the event the post office closes in Fulton, residents may receive mail in cluster box units, in a box through rural carrier service or through a trimmed-down village post office.

Turnbull reminded the group that this is just a study of which offices USPS may close. He said the postal service will continue delivering mail to everyone; it’s just a matter of doing it with fewer offices.

The USPS has set meetings for several other area towns:

• Canova, noon at the Canova Service Center, Sept. 12.

• Carthage, noon at community center, Sept. 15.

• Letcher, 5:30 p.m., location not finalized, Sept. 15.

• Spencer, 5:30 p.m. at the community center, Sept. 12.

• Gann Valley, 5:30 p.m. at the Buffalo County Courthouse courtroom, Sept. 20.

Meetings for Hamill, Herrick and Olivet have not been set yet.

Tags: post office, postal service, news, region