The United States Postal Service is weighing whether to discontinue the Babson Park post office branch in Wellesley and is asking customers for their opinions.
The Babson Park branch, located at 231 Forest St. on the Babson College campus, is one of 3,700 branches around the country, 43 in Massachusetts, which the Postal Service is considering closinb. Thirty-one of the Massachusetts branches are in Greater Boston. The mass closures are designed to help address a budget deficit of nearly $10 billion.
But customers still have the chance to voice their thoughts on the closing. The post office is accepting customer input forms through January 6th, which can be picked up at the branch.
The customer input is part of a study by the Postal Service to review the branches under consideration. As part of the study, the Postal Service held a public forum on November 14th on the Babson College campus, where residents gave their thoughts on the branch’s discontinuation. Twenty-six people were in attendance, said Dennis Tarmey, Communications Programs Specialist for the Greater Boston District of the U.S. Postal Service.
The study will assess the impact of the closure on the community, its employees, and mail services.
After reviewing the study, the post office will determine the branch’s fate.
“One option would keep the post office open as it is, the second would close it, the third is our headquarters would remand it back to us because they want more information about the location,” said Tarmey.
If the post office does close, people can still appeal the decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission. “The office would not close for 60 days following the posting of the notification,” said Tarmey.
Outside Babson Park are two other post offices in Wellesley, one in the town’s center and the other in Wellesley Hills.
Tarmey said the criteria for closing a post office include making less than $600,000 in revenue, five or more alternative access points where people can buy stamps within a two-mile radius, and a declining revenue base over the last couple of years.
In 2008, the Babson Park branch brought in $273,000 in revenue. But that number has since declined, bringing in $190,000 in 2010. Tarmey said by closing the Babson Park Post Office, the 10-year savings estimate is calculated at $947,713.
Tarmey said people concerned about the branch’s closing cite Babson’s international student base, nearby residents, and a nearby senior housing community.
Michael J. Chmura, Director of Public Relations for Babson College, said the post office on Forest Street has been a neighbor for decades. “It has been serving the needs of our population as well as the neighboring community,” he said. “It has provided wonderful services to the faculty, students, and staff, as well as our neighbors. That would be missed.”
Chmura said there was a proposal to close the branch a few years ago, but Babson College and post office officials came up with a workable plan to keep the office open.
Chmura said the school has had further discussions with the Postal Service regarding the latest round. “We will do whatever we’ve offered to do and whatever we can to help the post office through this difficult situation.”
Customer input forms can be sent to:
USPS-GMF Boston
Michael Foley- Box 16
25 Dorchester Avenue
Boston, MA 02205
Derek McLean can be reached at dbmclean1@gmail.com.
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