Quasqueton post office gets a reprieve

QUASQUETON - Residents of this Buchanan County town found a pleasant surprise in their mailboxes Friday - a notice that their post office will not be closing.

“This is wonderful news,” said acting postmaster Judy Thompson, who like most Quasqueton residents had thought the closing was a foregone conclusion.

In Postal Service vernacular, the Quasqueton office, like many others in Iowa and other states, had been under consideration for possible discontinuance and a change in service.

The notice in patrons' boxes, from post office operations manager Stacy St. John, said: “The proposal to close the office has been withdrawn, and no service change will occur at this time.”

St. John said residents' participation through questionnaires and a public meeting helped the Postal Service reach its decision.

Most residents of Quasqueton had expected their post office to close in November, and many of them had already switched their service to rural mailboxes posted near their homes.

They were relieved but not reassured when the Postal Service announced Dec. 13 that it was delaying the closure of any post offices or mail processing facilities until at least May 15.

Richard Watkins, a spokesman for the Postal Service's Des Moines-based Hawkeye District, said he knows of no other Iowa post offices receiving notices similar to that received Friday in Quasqueton. Watkins also said the Quasqueton decision does not necessarily bode well for other Iowa post offices undergoing a similar review.

“Each situation is unique, and the decisions are data-driven,” he said.

Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat representing Iowa's 1st District, has been pressing the Postal Service for information on how the proposed closures of 178 Iowa post offices would impact local jobs and local economies. While members of Congress play an important role in guiding the Postal Service, the agency has to cut costs to stay in business, Watkins said.

At a Senate hearing in September, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the service is on the verge of financial collapse and should eliminate Saturday delivery, close thousands of post offices, restructure its health plan and lay off 120,000 workers to survive.