Postal Service Outlines Plan To Move To Retail-Only Location In EG

After a preliminary announcement last June, the U.S. Postal Service is moving forward with its plans to sell the East Greenwich Post Office building on Post Road and open a much smaller, retail-only office in town. 

It comes down to money, U.S. Postal Service real estate specialist Joseph Mulvey told the Town Council at a meeting Monday night. Mail service is down 40 percent in recent years so savings must be found, he said. 

One way to do that is to move the delivery aspect of the business to the larger North Kingstown Post Office, further south on Post Road. That would mean EG mail carriers would start and end their days in North Kingstown. But, Mulvey emphasized, all the window-service amenities customers are used to would still be available in East Greenwich, only at a smaller retail store. 

There will be opportunities for the public to respond, he said, before any action is made on the real estate front. First, there will be a 15-day comment period, followed by a 30-day appeal period. Only after that would the postal service start to look for a suitable place to relocate, Mulvey said.

Businesswoman Patricia Norton wondered if she'd still be able to keep her EG Post Office box, something she's done for decades because there's no mail delivery service at Norton's Marina. Mulvey said yes, she would, noting the current post office has 966 PO boxes, of which 712 are rented. 

"We are proposing to have 884 boxes at the new location," he said, enough for the current users and then some.

Resident Robert Vespia wondered about things like registered and certified mail, which is brought back to the EG Post Office when no one is home. Would it be taken to North Kingstown, he asked?

Mulvey said that sort of mail would end up at the EG retail store, but only the day after attempted delivery. 

It's possible, he said, that the retail Post Office could remain in the current building if another business rented the rest of the space. The Post Road building is about 19,000 square feet. Mulvey said the retail operation would need only about 2,000 square feet.

But nothing looks to happen overnight. Beyond the 15- and 30-day waiting periods, no move will take place without a confirmed buyer for the current location and a confirmed lease on a new location.