Highland Park Not Among Los Angeles Post Offices Marked for Shut Down

In an effort to cut costs, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is considering shutting down roughly 3,700 retail locations throughout the country, including 12 in the city of Los Angeles.

However, according to a list of locations under consideration for closure released by USPS yesterday, both of Highland Park's locations are safe. 

Click here to see a list of California sites targeted for shuttering by the USPS.

Highland Park's two post offices are each located on one of the neighborhood's main thoroughfares, at 3590 N. Figueroa St. and 5132 York Boulevard.

On Wednesday afternoon, a small line queued up in front of the desk at the N. Figueroa Street location, as a customers waited to have their packages shipped. 

In an official statement, USPS said the following about their effort to "right-size" their retail operation.

" ... we are taking the next step in right-sizing our retail network by studying approximately 3,700 retail offices to determine customer needs. As part of this study, we are introducing a retail-replacement option –– Village Post Offices –– as an option for affected communities.

Village Post Offices would be operated by local businesses, such as pharmacies, grocery stores and other appropriate retailers, and would offer popular postal products and services such as stamps and flat-rate packaging."

For the past several years, the post office has continued to struggle with the declining use of first-class mail as a result of the ever-growing dependence on the Internet to communicate and pay bills. Businesses have also also been less inclined to send advertising mail because of the recession, according to reports.

The cash-strapped agency has already made significant reductions to its staff and costs in recent years. It has also proposed shifting to mail delivery five-days-a-week.

The post office currently operates more than 31,000 local offices, branches and stations throughout the country -- down from 38,000 a decade ago.