As US Postal Service bleeds money, some in Michigan will drive miles for mail

• The US Postal Service is set to lose $8 billion this fiscal year and is looking for numerous ways to cut costs
• The service has decreased the number of contract post offices and village post offices by 20% since 2019
• The closure of one such office in Salem Township will mean some residents must drive 14 miles round trip for mail

SALEM TOWNSHIP — David Stacer built his house five years ago not knowing mail wouldn’t be delivered straight to his home. Not a huge deal, he thought: He could walk a half-mile to retrieve his mail from a PO box inside a nearby store.

His neighborhood is one of about 2,500 nationally served by contract postal units. They are often typically inside businesses like convenience stores, sell stamps and offer services similar to the U.S. Postal Service but are operated by private contractors.

Stacer’s situation will become a bigger deal on Oct. 16. That’s when the contract postal service will close in his Washtenaw County community, forcing him and 45 other neighbors to make a 14-mile round trip to get their mail from a post office in Northville.   

“Now that it's in downtown Northville, you have to deal with road construction and all the traffic and the very limited parking around that Northville post office area,” said Stacer, 62. “So it's going to be a big inconvenience.” 

The postal service, which is on track to lose $8 billion this fiscal year, has decreased the number of contract post offices and village post offices by 20% nationwide since 2019, according to a report by USPS. 

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The report said the closures were prompted by “oversight and customer service issues” that “may lead to negative customer experiences, putting revenues, costs and the brand at risk.”

There’s no indication that was the issue in Salem Township, and the U.S. Postal Service wouldn’t answer Bridge Michigan questions about why it canceled the contract.

Spokesperson Tim Norman did not comment beyond a statement that said the “Postal Service offers Contract Postal Units (CPU) around the nation as an added customer convenience. As per the terms and conditions of the contract, either party can terminate the contract without reason.”

Norman did not respond to multiple Bridge inquiries about whether other Michigan contract units would close.

Linda Hamilton, operator of the Salem facility, said she received notice from the Postal Service in June that her contract was being terminated but they didn’t provide a reason why. 

A drop in business

Hamilton began working at the Salem postal facility, which is housed in the same building as Sun Home Improvement, over 25 years ago. 

She took over the contract full-time in 1999. 

“Over the last decade, the revenue here has declined as people use fewer stamps, as people do pre-printed postage and as your stamp collectors …are dying out,” she said. 

“I used to have customers where every single time a stamp would be released, they came in to buy it because they were very serious collectors. That doesn’t happen anymore.” 

The rest of Salem, a Washtenaw County community of 6,000 people, still has regular postal service. The contract store services some homes along Six Mile Road, some of which are separated by acres of farmland. 

Stacer said he used to get his mail every day on the way to work or on the way home, but now he will only get his mail a couple of times a week. 

“We're still quite mobile,” he said. “There's elderly people in the area that are going to have a bigger struggle.”

The township used to buy postage from Hamilton to send tax bills, newsletters and other pieces of mail to residents. 

As companies like eBay began offering commercial prices for postage, the Salem Township store and other contract postal units saw a decline in revenue. 

“Your customers, over a 20-25 year period, many of them become your friends. You care about them. You care about continuing service,” Hamilton said. 

“I have a woman …  and she has to be approaching 90,” she said. “For somebody like that, it is a long trip to Northville. That's where I'm hoping that whoever makes this final decision for the post office can look at that human picture and maybe there's a better way, long term, to provide service.” 

Salem Township Supervisor Gary Whitaker said he is upset by the change and offered to house the post office in a building he owns in the township. 

“We're just frustrated that we can't get a straight answer right now and I’m sure, the residents are,” Whitaker said.  “I've got elderly people that need their medicines.” 

Whitaker proposed installing centralized “cluster mailboxes” near the township hall to make it easier for residents to get their mail. However, USPS would need to provide them and they haven’t responded, Whitaker said. 

“We used to have a post office in the back of the township. So if they just move the PO boxes from where they're at now and bring them back, that would be a simple solution,” Whitaker said. “But according to (USPS) they can't have it in a building and someone (needs) to man where they put the boxes at.” 

Other changes 

The Salem store closure comes at a time when the postal service is trying to cut costs nationwide. 

USPS is considering a service slowdown that could mean residents who live in rural areas may have to wait an additional day to get their mail, while residents who live within 50 miles of the Postal Service’s largest processing facilities will receive their mail faster, The Washington Post reported. 

USPS plans to implement the changes after the November election, over concerns that mail-in ballots won’t be delivered on time. 

To cut back on costs, mail and packages for residents who live outside of a 50-mile radius of a processing facility would sit for an additional day instead of being processed and delivered immediately. 

But packages would still be delivered within five days, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told The Washington Post.

The changes will not only save money but prioritize those who live close to processing facilities, who will get their mail even faster now, Dejoy told The Post.