Gaysville Faces Postal Service Cuts - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

Gaysville Faces Postal Service Cuts

The tiny post office in Gaysville is a big attraction.

"Well it's great here because people walk down here, they bring their dogs down here, they see each other so this is a great post office," says regular customer Rochelle Mockus.

Daily visits and friendly service are part of what makes the office tick, but it's a service that could soon be getting significantly slashed.

"The last that we heard was that they were going to just close it so we got a little nervous about that," says Mockus.

Thursday, Sal Vitigliano, the Acting Post Office Operations Manager for Southern Vermont met with customers to say closing the doors was not in the cards for now. Instead he introduced a cost-saving plan that would cut full-time counter service to two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon.

"Most of the young people today use the Internet they don't even use email anymore, they're texting they're using the new technology and that's business that we lose at the post office window," says Vitigliano.

The proposal comes as the post office finds itself billions of dollars in the hole and annual transactions have dropped nationally by more than 300-million since 2005.

The postal service says similar moves are happening across the country and could come to branches in Stockbridge, Pittsfield, and Rochester but that each location will be evaluated individually.

"Most post offices will be measured every year or so and see if the volume stays the same, revenues stays the same if it does the post office will stay the same," Vitigliano adds.

Gaysville customers would still have access to their mailboxes between 8 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. Folks in town say they understand that comprise will be key as the postal service is pressed perform in a tech-savy world, they just hope their branch doesn't go away all together. "We would lose our identity that's what it is for this village here," says customer Maryellen Dorman.

A final decision on a change in hours at the Gaysville post office could come in the next 30 days and be implemented by January. The postal service would not say how much money it would save with the potential changes at the Gaysville branch.