The U.S. Postal Service reported $8 billion in losses last year.
This is a localized version of a story posted at 8:55 this morning.
The Brightwood branch of the United States Postal Service in Springfield is one of five branches in the city that may be closed. It is located on North Main Street.
SPRINGFIELD – Five of Springfield’s eight post offices could close as part of a cost-saving plan announced Tuesday by the United States Postal Service.
They are Brightwood, 3065 Main St.; Colonial Station, 1149 Main St.; Mason Square , 914 State St.; Tower Square, 1500 Main St. and Indian Orchard, 19 Oak St. The five branches are all on a list of post offices that are being studied for possible closure.
The city’s other post offices are the main office at 1883 Main St.; Forest Park, 393 Belmont Avenue and the contractor-operated branch at Gateway Hardware, 150 Boston Road.
There are 43 Massachusetts post offices on the study list. The branch in Lake Pleasant, a hamlet in the Franklin County town of Montague is the only other endangered post office in the Pioneer Valley.
Nationally, there are more than 3,000 post offices on the list or about 10 percent of the national total, according to a Postal Service news release.
Christine G. Dugas, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said people have 60 days to comment and forms are available at the post offices on the study list.
Robin L. Jones of Springfield will be one of the people trying to save Mason Square’s post office. She was part of a stream of customers coming and going from the Mason Square post office at lunch Tuesday.
“We have two major colleges in this neighborhood with Springfield College and American International College. There are plenty of businesses up and down this street who use this post office,” said Jones, a Realtor who lives Forest Park but works in the Mason Square neighborhood. “What else am I going to do: Go downtown and burn my own gas and waste my own time?”
Thomasina C. Brown lives nearby on Cambridge Street and said she depends on the Mason Square post office for her post office box. She prefers to get her mail there rather than risk having it stolen from her home.
“I just like the security,” she said. “I work and I don’t want my mail sitting out all day. if I go away, I know my mail is here. What will I do if this place closes.”
Julio Colon of Lois Street in Springfield had a package to mail.
“I know there are problems with the government, but taxpayers should get something for their money,” Colon said. “Why do they have to take away or post office. We get good service here.”
Dugas said the Postal Service doesn’t get taxpayer money, but only money it earns itself. It also lost $8 billion last year in the face of declining mail volume. The amount of first-class mail has fallen 20 percent in just the last year she said.
She said 85 percent of all postal transactions involve the purchase of stamps.
“You can buy stamps anywhere, at drug stores, grocery stores,” Dugas said.
People can also use the Postal Service’s website to pay for and print out parcel mailing labels online.
“Then one of our carriers will pick it up,” she said.
The Postal Service is also looking to add more of what it calls “Village Post Offices”, or locations in grocery and department stores that would feature post office boxes for mail pickup. they will be similar to the Gateway Hardware location, Dugas said.
Springfield Colonial Station and Brightwood stations were on the chopping block back in 2009, but survived.
“That doesn’t mean they will be saved again,” Dugas said. “Use patterns may have changed.”
She said the post offices will be evaluated not just on volume, but also in light of what types of postal services are available nearby.
The Postal Service has been cutting its staff through attrition, not layoffs, she said. No layoffs are expected from these closures.
William A. Tranghese, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said the congressman will work to save the Springfield locations.