Postal plan impacts all

Unveiled last week as a measure to save $500 million in annual operations, the Postal Service plan impacts all but three post offices in Whitman County.

The reduced hours plan will effect 13,000 of 32,000 of the postal service’s post offices.

Post offices in Colton, Garfield, Oakesdale, Rosalia and St. John will go from eight open hours to six. In addition to the Malden reduction, post offices in Albion, Endicott, Farmington, Hooper and Uniontown will go from eight hours to four.

Colfax, Palouse and Pullman post offices will keep their hours.

Carol Rebstock, manager of Post Office Operations in Spokane, said the new schedule is set to betgin this fall.

Oddly, the plan also calls for the hours of operation at the Steptoe Post Office to be reduced from six hours a day to two.

A “Village Post Office” was opened in Steptoe at the Friendly Mart in March to replace the post office in the Cooper’s Corner antique store.

The store now rents post office boxes and sells stamps and flat rate shipping boxes. Steptoe retains its mailing address, as well as its 99174 zip code, though mail is now sorted at the Colfax Post Office and stuffed into the Friendly Mart boxes by a rural carrier

The Cooper’s Corner post office is still operating, but was slated to be closed May 15. The new plan does not allow the postal service to close any post offices.

Rebstock, though, said Gary and Donna Cooper have told the postal service they will not renew the lease for the Cooper’s Corner location. The Cooper’s house is attached to the Cooper’s Corner antique store through the post office location. Donna Cooper was the long-time postmaster for Steptoe.

Expiration of the lease, said Rebstock, means the postal service will be able to shutter the Cooper’s Corner station.