Are US postal services provided in Ocean City Maryland heading for a significant change? For many years now, we have had a PO Box through the USPS in Ocean City MD. For the past 6 years, our PO Box pick up was in North Ocean City MD, 130th St, Montego Bay Shopping Center, via the POST NET private business service. This facility provides convenient PO Box services for many year round citizens and businesses in the North portion of Ocean City MD and even for businesses and residents in the southern part of Delaware. It is my understanding that POST NET had a renewal clause, which would provide for adjustment cost of doing business with the USPS so that they could continue their positive community service by providing this northerly USPS PO Box pickup location. I now learn that the postal service has FAILED to negotiate or offer any increase in payments to POST NET for the valued services they provide. One would think that over the course of 6 years, cost of living has increased significantly, and how could they POSSIBLY think one could continue to offer such a service to the public for a revenue base from the USPS that is seriously outdated.
Should the USPS fail to agree to a fair and viable increase in payments to POST NET for their services, POST NET will have to discontinue said PO Box facility in North Ocean City MD. This means that many locals and businesses will be seriously disadvantaged. We will be needing to then travel to 71st St to retrieve our POST OFFICE Box contents. Summer traffic is difficult on many days, especially if it is a cloudy / raining non beach day. This involves pushing the expense and time burden of doing business onto the local consumer and small business owners who have relied for years on the very satisfactory service provided by POST NET in North Ocean City MD.
Additionally, I am told by POSTAL AUTHORITIES in Ocean City that we will be assigned new PO Box numbers if the North Station closes. This means that all businesses who now have official US POST OFFICE BOX #’s will have to bear the expense of changing all of their business stationery, notify all of their clients, change all of their existing literature, etc.. to revise those documents to indicate a new PO Box number. I would have thought that a PO Box number would be valid for as long as you continued to pay your annual fee? This is just another example of the Postal Service throwing the burden onto the consumer. Here is a link to the On Line PO Box rental section of the US POSTAL service relating to PO Box Rentals.
It should be noted that Ocean City MD is a tourist destination. In the summer months, there are already long lines at the 71st St US POSTAL facility during some periods of each day. To simply purchase stamps, mail a small package, etc.. will then take longer as everyone who frequented the North facility provided by POST NET will now have to use the 71st ST facility. Surely they will have to hire additional staff there to manage the already overflowing services at that mid town location. Hopefully, the US POSTAL Service in Ocean City MD will wake up and realize the consequences of not engaging in a fair and meaningful dialogue with POST NET to agree to a new pay schedule that makes it a viable option for POST NET to continue offering USPS services to us who are in the North Portion of Ocean City MD. (Add on Feb 1, 2006 – As of this date, to my knowledge, the postal service has yet to address the issue or initiate any attempt to negotiate a fair agreement with postnet.)
Have a comment? Visitors are welcome to register and advance this topic, offer other views, etc.. Simply CLICK HERE to login or CLICK HERE to register.
While certainly sad and no doubt unfortunate for the kind owner of post-net my opinion of the issue is a little different from Mr. Smith. Originally when I heard of this I was upset on a personal level for loosing my p.o. box and a fine local business. However after further consideration I understand the cost of the new USPS building on 71st to be in the six-digit range all of it coming from our taxes, so its in our best interest to see we get our moneys worth and that the new USPS building does well. Obviously it is an inconvenience to travel to 71st street from points north in the summer, however having a post office box is a luxury not a right. Most buildings in this city do have some sort of mail receptacle already be them sometimes undesirables or unsecure. In a perfect world I would like not to see Post-Net close , but on the other hand I would also want to see my tax dollars being put to use and used.
In reply to “luckyocmd” ‘s valued comments
.. I’d wish to provide some additional information.
1. In reference to the “I understand the cost of the new USPS building on 71st to be in the six-digit range all of it coming from our taxes,” .. It is not Federal Taxes that subsidize the USPS service, not our local city taxes, as the USPS is apparently mandated to be self sufficient. This would mean that their revenue must provide adequate net income to sustain the postal service without tax subsidies:
“Here is a quote from a high level USPS official ;
As a self-financing agency that receives no congressional appropriations, USPS has budget differences that set it apart from other agencies. But like them, USPS must find new ways to cut IT costs.” (source ishttp://www.fcw.com/article92284-02-13-06-Print –” I would suggest they also are forced to cut other department costs as well. (I don’t have time right now to do any research on this matter but maybe this will give you some idea of the push and pull going on)
2. Realistically – North Ocean City MD and the southerly portions of Sussex Cty Delaware (along the Rte 54 corridor in Delaware) are growing rapidly. There are many new homes and condo’s under construction. The quiet North part of Ocean City is not as “quiet” as it used to be. There are many more residents either year round or property owners of vacation properties. The demand will continue to grow for postal service in the Northern portion of Ocean City MD. In the summer time, the Postal Service also has to serve the hundreds of thousands of vacationers who are here for a week or maybe just a few days but need to mail a package, send a letter, etc.. These would include vacationers who are actually in Fenwick Island and inland Delaware Rte 54. The nearest post offices in Delaware are Selbyville DE and Bethany Beach DE, both of which are quite a distance, especially in the summer traffic.
3. Many year round residents are living in North Ocean City MD and are retired. They do use the postal facility at Montego Bay’s Post-Net. It’s a real hardship for elderly to navigate a vehicle through the summer traffic to 71st St. It’s also a very very difficult parking lot there at 71st to exit! Sometimes if i go there in the summer, I feel I must have the skills of a NASCAR race driver to exit that parking lot and then proceed to change lanes southbound until I am able to do a U turn and return to the North of Ocean City Md in the North Bound lane.
4. In the absence of the North facility provided by Post Net at 130th St, the 71st street facility will have to INCREASE it’s staff to manage the increased demand on that facility! .. there must be some realization of this and hopefully the postal service will realize it’s better for the USPS to try to make the service they provide of some realistic convenience and not throw all this burden on those of us in North Ocean City MD and Southern Delaware. I frequently see many Post Net customers exiting auto’s there with Delaware license Tags .. Let us hope that the US Postal service will live up to it’s mandate to serve the Postal Mail customers in a fair and meaningful way. dan
It is a shame that POSTNET will be forced to stop providing postal services at the end of May. Not only is that location very handy for those of us in North OC, especially during the heavy summer traffic season, (oh I forgot, we don’t have a traffic problem here, silly me), they provide much more than just convenience, they provide customer service! The staff there is friendly, efficient and customer oriented, something it is hard to find in almost any post office in the land. With that kind of local competion, I understand why the postmaster is set on putting them out of business.
I completely agree with Bubba. The friendly staff at POSTNET provides a great service. To lose our already established P.O. boxes is a shame. Why? Because the USPS cannot or will not acknowledge that there is indeed a cost of living increase every year. This a crime. People depend on POSTNET. Whats fair is fair. Do not ignore six years of increase. To whom ever reads this: Do not forget the great service POSTNET has always provided. Give POSTNET what they deserve.
POSTNET PROVIDES GREAT SERVICE AND A FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE. THIS IS VERY UNFAIR, I AM SELF-EMPLOYED AS WELL AS THE TREASURER FOR MY CONDO ASSOCIATION, THIS CHANGE WOULD REQUIRE ALOT OF UNECESSARY WORK ON MY PART. GRANT POSTNET THE INCREASE THEY DESERVE.
I say, tell the USPS to take a hike at their unfair offer. The amount they pay you per year is less than that of a fulltime Post Office window clerk and window clerks don’t have to put the mail in the boxes like you do.
For all the residents and businesses who get their mail at your store, they can still do that. With many more advantages than they get from the Post Office.
For example…….
They could now have a street address for their adress rather than the standard PO Box.
They could receive packages from UPS, DHL, FEDEX and any other carrier of their choice.
They could have their mail forwarded by PostNet if they are gone for a period of time, or if they travel.
They could call to see if they have mail rather than coming in.
These are just a few of the benefits to renting a PRIVATE MAIL BOX rather than a standard PO BOX from the USPS.
Of course the rental fees would go up but the benefits would outweigh the costs.
Most people are willing to pay for convenience and thats why private mail box stores have such a high sucess rate.
I remember the meeting held a the Rec Center six years ago within the community prior to the closing of the Montego Bay sub-station. The USPS executives blew a lot of smoke then and continue to do so now.
The USPS representatives promised that North OC would get “comprable” postal service. Then they closed the sub-station manned by three full timers and a number of part time employees and paid Dee at PostNet about $30,000 dollars a year to cover all personel plus rent and utilities. Sure it more “efficent” if you can eliminate well over a 100,000 dollars at a cost of $30,000.
Additionally, the USPS executives attending the meetin at the rec center did not even know that the USPS would be paying rent on the unoccupied Montego Bay facility for almost an additional year. But who cared.
Now the big wigs in Baltimore and Washington (not necessarily the local Post Master) are at it again. The USPS executives are at it agin. They only care about their bonuses, not the public.
Although I no longer live in Worcester County I still care about the area.
The closing of Post Net would be an major inconvenience to the people of North Ocean City. OK, its not that far to go to 71st Street – what’s an additional 59 blocks especially in the summer time. Do you think that the EPA, Energy Administration, Department of Transportation and the Postal Service have concluded that to advance President Bush’s goals this move would be good for air pollution, traffic congestion, energy conservation an the “economy”.
The thing is, no one knows what is going on. The U.S. Post Office should address this issue and let the public know its position. Its damm near too late NOW!