For the past seven years, jewelry vendor Qui Luu said he has watched lines of about 20 customers form outside the Laurel Mall Post Office during the holidays, even as foot traffic in the rest of the building has steadily dwindled.
But the post office, which Luu said is very popular among the customers of his nearby Whitney Jewelry pagoda, could possibly be shut down, depending on the results of a new United States Postal Service, or USPS, study.
The Laurel Mall location was one of 3,600 locations nationwide that the USPS is reviewing for possible closure over the next four to five months. USPS wants to eliminate sites to tackle an estimated $8 billion revenue loss this year, said spokeswoman Yvette Singh.
Diptiman Sengupta, who lives near Laurel Mall, said the second-closest post office — about one mile away on Main Street — would not be as convenient for him as the mall branch, which has been there for 25 years.
“I hope they don’t close it,” said Sengupta, who has been using the branch for the past five years. “I will be very much affected. It’s a matter of transportation, time.”
Sengupta, 67, said the 25-minute walk would be difficult for him and others his age and driving farther away would be a financial strain.
“Young people can maybe go but not us,” he said. “This is more convenient for us.”
Singh said USPS has seen mail volume decline by 43.1 billion pieces since 2007 and the study will determine which facilities are the least financially viable based on criteria such as customer demand and proximity to another post offices.
Singh did not have data on annual revenues for the Laurel Mall site and said no decisions have been made yet.
Upon completion of the study, which started in July, residents and store managers of the selected sites would get a 60-day notice and customers would then have 30 days to appeal the decision, Singh said.
Unlike Sengupta, who uses the post office twice a week, Kayla Scarborough said she only uses it twice a year but is still troubled by the possibility of it closing.
“The only other one is Main Street,” said Scarborough, who also lives near the mall. “I don’t necessarily want to go down there.”
A third post office on Laurel Bowie Road in South Laurel is about two-and-a-half miles away.
Employees at the other two sites could not comment, due to department policy, if they believe business will get a boost from the closure of the Laurel Mall site.
Singh said USPS will try to ensure that residents like Sengupta and Scarborough still have access to postal services nearby even if the mall branch closes.
“USPS is launching the Village Post Office that will provide access to our products and services in locations postal customers already frequent, such as neighborhood retail stores and pharmacies,” Singh wrote in an email to The Gazette.
She said the Village Post Office plan will help create a more efficient business model while maintaining or increasing convenience for customers.
“We know that everybody lives busy lives so this way they can go to the grocery store and take care of both personal needs and mail,” Singh said.
cokparanta@gazette.net
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