NEW BEDFORD – The United States Postal Service has decided that it will not close the Mount Pleasant Station post office in New Bedford because doing so is “not feasible at this time,” according to the cash-strapped agency’s latest list of branches it may shut down.
The USPS has pared its original list of 3,600 targeted branches to 413, according to a list published last week by the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees the postal service. The agency has warned that it may lose at least $7 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 due to declining mail volume.
The New Bedford branch’s 69,800-square-foot location, at 748 Mount Pleasant St., is owned by the postal service and has been a post office since 1987. It had 1,219 post office boxes and grossed $1.13 million in revenue in 2008, according to USPS figures.
Among the branches still under consideration for shuttering is Cumberland’s Valley Falls branch, located at 197 Broad St. near the Central Falls line. The USPS has leased the 15,065-square-foot location since 1970. It had 348 post office boxes and grossed $202,036 in 2008, according to the postal service.
The property at 197 Broad St. has an assessed value of $372,600 and has been owned since 1969 by Helcar Inc., a family-owned real estate firm, according to town records. Smithfield-based Helcar also owns post office branches in East Providence, Lincoln, North Smithfield and South Kingstown, according to the postal service.
The USPS said final decisions on the branch closures will not be made until after Oct. 2. The New Bedford and Cumberland post offices are the only two in Southern New England the postal service has considered closing.
However, Congress may try to block the agency, which has also proposed cutting Saturday service, from closing the post offices, according to Bloomberg News.
The possible post office closures also would create yet another headache for the beleaguered commercial real estate industry because it would add more retail space to an already saturated market, The Financial Times reported.
“At the end of the day, it’s just more retail space that’s going to be available that’s going to put pressure on already embattled landlords,” Victor Calanog, director of research at the research firm Reis, told the FT.
Additional information is available at USPS.com.
