[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 21283-21284]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




AGAINST THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE OTEEN POST OFFICE IN ASHEVILLE, NORTH 
                                CAROLINA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HEATH SHULER

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 9, 2009

  Mr. SHULER. Madam Speaker, as the son of a rural postal carrier, I 
was raised with the United States Postal Service as an integral part of 
my community, my family, and my life. I grew up understanding the vital 
role a rural post office can play in terms of jobs, small businesses, 
and local economies. Today the Postal Service is in jeopardy. With 
increasing reliance on electronic communication, fewer and fewer 
citizens are using standard mail to send and receive correspondence.
  To counter the reduction in usage and their enormous deficit, the 
United States Postal Service has been forced to implement difficult 
cost-cutting measures. Among these measures is the consolidation of 
numerous post office branches throughout the country. In my

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postal region alone, the Mid-Carolinas District, 6 of the 80 post 
offices that service the area have been closed in the past year. The 
Post Master General estimates that over the next year, approximately 
300 post offices nationwide will be forced to shut their doors. This 
will result in job losses and reduced community access to postal 
services for individuals and businesses.
  I am particularly concerned about the Oteen Post Office in Asheville, 
which is currently under review for consolidation in my district. There 
has been tremendous local resistance to the possible closing of the 
Oteen Post Office, especially because the facility is located directly 
across the street from the Charles George Veterans Affairs Medical 
Center. The VA hospital is reliant on the Oteen Post Office to meet the 
correspondence needs of its patients, as well as the critical 
administrative needs of the medical center staff. For example, the 
Oteen facility provides fee-based presorting services to 18 different 
departments of the VA hospital and early mail pick-up to expedite the 
delivery of vital medical paperwork. Should the facility close, 
employees of the VA hospital and citizens in the area would have to 
drive almost 14 miles roundtrip to access the nearest retail postal 
facility.
  Furthermore, it is important to remember that many elderly and rural 
citizens, poor people and people without permanent residences rely 
solely on post office boxes to receive their mail. By closing the Oteen 
Post Office, as with many post offices around the country, we are 
complicating access to these post office boxes and putting further 
strain on our veterans, senior citizens, and those with limited means.
  Consolidation of post offices is not the best solution to this 
crisis. In many instances, it is detrimental. Rather than shutting post 
office doors, we should look at other streamlining solutions that are 
already being successfully implemented. We should explore proven 
solutions such as adjusting post office hours to reflect customer use, 
extending early retirement eligibility to USPS employees, and adjusting 
postal delivery routes to better reflect the diminished volume of mail.
  Madam Speaker, we need to keep Oteen and post offices like it open. I 
strongly encourage my colleagues to consider alternatives to rural post 
office consolidation and job loss that will help streamline the efforts 
of the postal service, cut costs, and increase efficiency.

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