The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

October 23, 2009

Dropping a day 'a very real possibility'

T. J. ROYAL

Tarboro Postmaster Sam Flythe informed the Tarboro Rotary Club about developments within the United States Postal Service Thursday at The Fountains at The Albemarle.

Flythe, postmaster in Tarboro since 2005, said one of the biggest considerations facing the Postal Service, whether to drop a day of mail service, is "a very real possibility, ... a probability" within the next couple of years. If, and when, the mailing schedule drops to five days each week, Flythe said the dropped date would most likely be Saturday, so as to not interfere with businesses' work schedules during the week.

The postmaster also told the club that there is not another postage rate hike scheduled to occur in 2010. The last shipping increased occurred back in May, when a stamp went up to 44 cents.

Flythe pointed out that the Postal Service's flat-rate priority mail boxes is the "best service for your money" that is offered. With a weight limit of up to 70 pounds, as long as it fits in the box, he emphasized its usefulness to business. It only costs a local automotive parts store around $10 to ship a 50-pound brake rotor through USPS to a customer using the flat-rate box, Flythe said.

He also noted that www.usps.com, the Postal Service's Web site, is probably the "most used daily" government Internet site in the United States.

As for the George Henry White Post Office's operations in Tarboro, Flythe said there are 28 employees, 20 who work full-time and eight part-time. An average of 10,000 pieces of mail go out from the Tarboro Post Office daily, via six city routes and eight rural routes, one of which Flythe said stretches 92 miles.

The recession, along with fewer mailing volumes, have affected the Postal Service as a whole, the postmaster said. When Savings Source Direct closed earlier this year, the Post Office lost "one of the big revenue products for us here in the county," he said. Before Savings Source's closure, Flythe added that one Postal employee would be responsible for going over to the business to check on mail volumes.

Also Thursday, Ed Roberson accepted $2,500 from the club on behalf of the Tarboro 250th Anniversary Celebration Committee.

The Interact Club was presented an $1,800 check to put towards supplies for Edgecombe County Memorial Library in Tarboro.

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