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Uploaded: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 6:03 PM
USPS may move MV business mail service to Los Altos
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by Daniel DeBolt
Mountain View Voice Staff
Mountain View businesses that move large amounts of mail through the Post Office may soon have to make a trip to Los Altos to do so, according to a new proposal from the U.S. Postal Service.
A letter sent to business customers of the Postal Service says the agency plans to study the closure of Mountain View's "Business Mail Entry Unit" at 211 Hope St. and consolidate its operations with the Los Altos-Loyola BMEU at 1525 Miramonte Ave. near Loyola Corners.
The proposed closure of the service in Mountain View was met with critical remarks from Mayor Mike Kasperzak.
"We've got twice the population of Los Altos," Kasperzak said. "I support what the Postal Service is trying to do to get its costs under control, but it sure seems a little backwards."
Postal Service spokesperson Jim Wigdel said the retail operation at the main Mountain View post office on Hope Street would stay.
"What we're considering is possibly consolidating two BMEU's that are fairly close to each other," Wigdel said. "It has nothing to do with retail. If we were even considering closing a post office, there's public meetings that have to be held."
Why it makes sense to move the service to Los Altos rather than the other way around is still being analyzed, said Ricky Chan, manager of customer services for the USPS's offices in San Francisco.
"It would depend on a lot of factors which we haven't analyzed yet," Chan said. "If enough customers say we would rather have it the other way, we would consider it."
Chan said it was too early to say if staff would be laid off at one of the offices.
The letter sent to local businesses explains, "the U.S. Postal Service is facing one of the most difficult challenges in history. The Postal Service must realign its network to match its resources with mail volume. Consolidating some postal operations and placing our people where we need them makes logical business sense given the economic realities."
The Postal Service is accepting public input on the proposal until Feb. 27; send comments to:
Manager Business Mail Entry
Re: Mountain View Park BMEU Feasibility Study
PO Box 7846
San Francisco, CA 94120
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Posted by Observer, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Jan 31, 2012 at 7:30 pm What else would you expect from the government! The UPS is going bankrupt because it continues with a failed business model. Don't get me started on the pathetic customer service.
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Posted by BD, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Feb 1, 2012 at 9:56 am The USPS isn't a government entity, but it has the worst of both worlds - it does not get any tax funds, but it has to get congressional approval on its prices and business practices, fund employee benefits at federal levels, serve every house in the nation every day, and compete with private companies offering faster, on-demand service. I think Congress could go a long way toward fixing this by letting it set its own rates and pension benefits.
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Posted by Susan, a resident of the Castro City neighborhood, on Feb 1, 2012 at 2:52 pm If bulk mail were curtailed there would be no need for this. I am buried in bulk mail that ALL goes into the recycle bin.
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Posted by kman, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Feb 1, 2012 at 3:42 pm The answer to junk mail is to call the sender up and tell them to take you off there mailing list. Most all junk mails have a telephone or some type of contact info. If not, return it to sender with a note on it to take you off there list. I have no junk mail in my box, only bills.
Consolidation is a good move. Less duplicate administrative work.
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Posted by GDM, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Feb 2, 2012 at 9:55 am Without junk mail the Post Office would lose more money. I'm thankful for it.
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Posted by Flounder, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Feb 2, 2012 at 4:19 pm If this goes thru, maybe they can expand the number of windows to serve the public. Even when all are staffed, lines form. The demand is there. Let them build a bigger counter.
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Posted by Doug Pearson, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Feb 2, 2012 at 7:51 pm BD said the Post Office has to, "serve every house in the nation every day." That's true and it's because, as BD also said, "it has to get congressional approval on its prices and business practices."
I'm sure the Congress would never approve, but I think the Post Office would do better to charge a flat annual fee comparable to the mail box fee for mail delivery, a very expensive service, and consider reducing the fee for mail boxes, a comparatively less expensive service.
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Posted by Business data?, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2012 at 5:24 pm How many businesses in Mountain View vs. Los Altos?
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Posted by Heather, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Feb 10, 2012 at 7:45 am This is a really bad idea. The Loyola Corners post office is in a remote location, on a narrow street. Traffic is already congested. Making business clients travel out to the hinterlands to mail their articles is a waste of time and gas for them, and adds to the traffic nightmare of the people who live on the narrow residential streets near the Loyola post office.
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