East Elko Retail Unit studied for possible consolidation

Public comments solicited

The Postal Service has announced that the East Elko Retail Unit, located at 2082 Idaho St., is being studied for possible consolidation before the facility’s lease expires in Feb. 2010.

Currently, the Post Office is projected to lose more than $6.5 billion this fiscal year and is evaluating locations across the country looking for redundancies in service and ways to increase efficiency without severely impacting customer service and access.

Currently, the East Elko Retail Unit is under-utilized — with just 60 percent of the Post Office Boxes rented. The move would affect approximately more than 760 box holders. The boxes would be absorbed into the Elko Main Post Office, located at 275 3rd St.

The move would save the cost of heating, lighting, trash removal and staffing from the annex, as well leasing costs. Over the next ten years, the projected savings would top more than $1 million in direct and incidental costs.

“We need to be environmentally responsible and not unnecessarily waste resources,” said Postal Spokesman David Rupert “We also are called to be fiscally conservative, as the Postal Service receives no tax dollars and we are currently dealing with the largest decline in finances in our history.”

Feedback surveys have been delivered to all box holders and are also available at the retail counter.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.