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Despite rumors that have been circulating for several weeks that the Derwood post office is scheduled to close, the location will remain open for now, postal officials reported.

Luvenia D. Hyson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service, wrote in an e-mail message to The Gazette that the postal service is looking at a "possible consolidation of facilities" in the area, but no decision has been made about the Derwood facility near the intersection of Muncaster Mill and Redland roads in a small shopping center.

"If the facility is targeted for closure, there will be notification to customers in advance," she wrote. "The physical location may be considered for closure, but the employees will be reassigned to other sites."

According to published reports, hundreds of postal operations close each year, but more than 3,000 post offices and retail outlets — about 10 percent of locations across the country — are being reviewed for closure or consolidation by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) because of a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.

The closest post office to the one in Derwood is at 16501 Shady Grove Road, but it is closed weekends. The Rockville facility at 500 N. Washington St. is open on Saturdays, but is farther away.

Diana Heller, a Derwood resident, said she visits the post office on a regular basis and was saddened by the news that it might shutter.

"I don't want it to close because I do enjoy going there," she said. "The people who work there are very nice and personable. We don't want to have to go to the post office in Rockville because the parking there is terrible and it's very crowded."

Kenneth Weiss, a Derwood resident and first vice president of the Greater Shady Grove Civic Alliance, said losing the Derwood facility would be a shame.

"The Derwood post office is one of the few remaining entities that keeps the area's name alive," he wrote in an e-mail. "It lets residents use ‘Derwood' instead of ‘Rockville' as their mailing address and many of us do this. The post office provides a valuable service in that it is open six days a week, when the larger office on Shady Grove road is closed on Saturdays."

Weiss added that the post office also helps generate business within the small shopping center.

"I understand that the USPS needs to save money and plans to close many small post offices, but these are community institutions, going back to the days when they were inside general stores," he writes. "I hope a way can be found to reduce costs and keep the Derwood office open."