Customers still confused over future of post office - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Customers who use the downtown Albany Post Office still have a lot of questions even after a town hall meeting to talk about why the Postal Service plans to shut it down, Tuesday night.

A South Georgia Congressman says the real problem is with Congress which passed a bill that's driving the Postal Service broke.

He's pushing his colleagues to change the law so the Postal Service can afford to keep many post offices open.

Around 50 people showed up at the town hall meeting at Albany Tech regarding the closure of downtown Albany's Post Office and while many of them had questions, they didn't leave with answers from USPS officials.

"It's a slap in the face to this whole community and they must understand we need that service," said post office supporter Johnny Williams.

Williams and other customers wanted to know why the branch in the heart of downtown Albany was chosen to close instead of other Albany branches.

North Florida District Postmaster Ron Bradley couldn't answer that question, Tuesday night.

"We haven't gotten answers. They have not come to the table and come clean in how they made the decision to choose the downtown postal service," said Williams.

"There's a lack of transparency and I think the people of the community here in Albany and all across the country deserve to have that kind of transparency," said Georgia Congressman Sanford Bishop.

Congressman Bishop chimed in saying that he's doing all he can to lift a huge burden off of the postal service.

He says he's pressing house leaders to pass a senate bill that would eliminate a mandate for the Postal Service to prefund retiree health care accounts. 

That would save the Post Office $11 billion.

"These burdensome requirements that have been placed on the postal service are resulting in what we're having to experience here and in other communities all across the country. It's unfair and not right," said Bishop.

Even Congressman Bishop says closing the downtown branch will be a knockout blow to downtown Albany's success.

"To discontinue the downtown Postal Service and postal operations is to cut the heart out of this community and that's unacceptable," said Bishop.

For now, people of Albany must wait for a decision is final.

Folks in Albany were caught off guard when the Postal Service announced the downtown Post Office would close December 2nd.

After an outcry, Postal officials decided to put off the closure for six months.

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