Tiny Russell’s post office in limbo

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The Russell post office is at 43140 N. Kilbourne Road. | Michael Schmidt~Sun-Times Media

Updated: May 18, 2011 4:49AM

RUSSELL — The postmaster in this tiny community — population “less than 50” — said her facility is in limbo, not knowing if it will remain open.

“I understand there will be 2,000 post offices closing this year, but we don’t know which ones,” said Ellyn Eaheart, Russell’s postmaster since 2005. “I haven’t seen a list.”

That’s because there is no list of post offices set to close, according to Sean Hargadon, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service. He said once a list is compiled, “It will have to be made public.”

Hargadon said though the losses to the postal service are staggering — $20 billion in the last four fiscal years, and a drop in mail volume by 43 billion since 2007, including first-class mail delivery down by 50 percent, the USPS is taking painstaking approaches in determining which post offices will close.

“Because our revenues are down, we’re trying to make adjustments. And one of the ideas is to close some of the buildings,” said Hargadon.

He said the USPS is currently looking at sites in which the status has been suspended — those post offices closed for one reason or another would likely not reopen.

“For instance, if a post office was closed (temporarily) due to flooding, that would be one we would look at first,” he said.

Still, Eaheart and some of her customers, she said, are nervous.

“I don’t know what I’d do,” said Eaheart, 52, a 33-year postal service employee. “And I’m too young to retire.”

“We’re a full-service post office, but we just don’t do delivery,” said Eaheart, who is the lone employee, other than a Saturday person who comes in on her day off.

The customers that use the Russell Post Office, 43410 N. Kilbourne Road, come from Zion, Winthrop Harbor, Wadsworth, Kenosha, Wis. and Pleasant Prairie, Wis.

“A lot of them are very upset, very angry,” said Eaheart. “They tell me, ‘You better not close.’”

Eaheart blames it on e-mail and so does the USPS.

“People are going to the Internet and using other options,” said Hargadon, “but a lot of people still like using the post office. Especially businesses.”

However, it’s difficult to make up for the losses. “It takes three pieces of business mail to equate one piece of first-class mail,” he said.

Hargadon said the USPS is focusing on changing ways customers do business as the shift of post offices loom. More stores are selling stamps and other mailing paraphernalia, and some stores even accept mail and ship packages from their sites.

“What we’re finding is not everybody goes to a brick-and-mortar postal building, especially because of our hours,” said Hargadon. “But the service with the postal service is excellent, it’s affordable, you don’t get charged a service fee and you get to know your carrier. There are a lot of benefits to using the postal service.”