The Postal Service is considering moving mail carrier operations out of the Camillus and Brewerton post offices. Camillus mail carriers would work out of Solvay, Brewerton carriers out of Cicero-Clay.
Camillus, NY -- To cut costs, the U.S. Postal Service is considering moving its mail-delivery operations from the Camillus post office on Kasson Road to the Solvay office on Milton Avenue.
. “We are looking – and I underscore looking -- at a variety of options to drive out some costs,” Postal Service spokeswoman Maureen Marion said.
If the changes are made, she said, addresses would not change, and mail would still be delivered at the same time of day.
Marion said the Postal Service would continue operating a full-service post office in Camillus. There would be no difference in service to customers, who could still buy stamps, send packages and rent post office boxes locally.
“To the average customer, there is not a change to the ordinary course of business,” she said.
Marion said the Postal Service is studying changes at about 20 post offices in Upstate New York. In the Syracuse area, postal officials are also considering moving carrier operations from Brewerton to Cicero-Clay on Route 31 in Clay.
She said a combination of better efficiency and smaller volume of mail means the Postal Service can do more mail sorting at its central Taft Road facility and less at local post offices.
“No action plan has been authorized yet,” she said, and no timetable to make changes has been set.
She said that if the changes were made, the eight city routes and three rural routes that now run out of Camillus would be run out of Solvay.
The idea of changing the post office operation has Camillus 6th Ward Councilor David Callahan worried.
“Where’s the smoke there’s fire,” Callahan said. "I don’t want to lose that post office over there. I encourage overone who wants to keep the post office where it is to write letters (to the Postal Service) to the effect that they would like to keep it.”
The Post Service is studying whether some services now available at the Camillus location, like pick-up of mail and packages held at the office or signing for certified mail, would still be offered in Camillus. Marion said those services make up a very small part of the services in Camillus.
“That would be a very huge disservice to the people of Camillus,” Callahan said if Camillus customers were required to go to Solvay to pick up items.
Marion said the Postal Service has not decided whether it would relocate the post office to a “storefront” and close the Kasson Road site.
The Postal Service owns the Kasson Road location and could save money on maintenance like snow plowing, landscaping and utilities. If the building is sold, the property could go back on the property tax rolls.
“In an operation where the top ticket item you offer to the public is 44 cents, we have to look at pennies,” she said.
Reach John Stith at jstith@syracuse.com or 251-5718.