Local Post Offices Not Impacted by Imminent Closings

The imminent mass closings of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) offices announced earlier this week will not directly impact Gloucester Township residents or businesses.

It appears the USPS hit list in the Garden State will not include very much south of Trenton.

The township's post offices, including in Blackwood and Glendora, will remain open, as will outside-of-the-township offices such as Sicklerville and Somerdale that serve township residences and businesses, according to a list released by the Postal Service.

In South Jersey, post offices in Long Beach Island and Manahawkin, in Ocean County, Goshen, in Cape May County, and Dividing Creek, in Cumberland County, are on the Post Service's "right-sizing" plan, which could result in roughly 3,700 post offices nationwide being shut down.

"Today, more than 35 percent of the Postal Service’s retail revenue comes from expanded access locations such as grocery stores, drug stores, office supply stores, retail chains, self-service kiosks, ATMs and usps.com, open 24/7," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement announcing the plan. "Our customer's habits have made it clear that they no longer require a physical post office to conduct most of their postal business.”

For communities currently without a postal retail office and for communities affected by the "right-sizing" plan, the Postal Service has introduced the "Village Post Office" as a potential replacement option.

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.