Orma residents, who have had a post office in the area since
shortly after the Civil War, originally called Rilla and Fez,
and named after Orma Stalnaker in 1905, are now facing losing
their longtime post office
Millstone area residents are opposing the closure of their
office, as they listen to US Postal official James E. Adkins,
Jr., who expressed the financial plight of the nationwide service
Two public meetings were held Thursday evening in Calhoun regarding post office closures, one at Orma and one at Millstone.
Local residents expressed their disapproval of losing their local offices, citing inconvenience.
The US Postal system has proposed closing several hundred post offices in West Virginia, mostly rural, and thousands nationwide.
James E. Adkins, Jr., a senior manager with US Postal, said the agency has a multi-tiered approach to cutting costs, with the focus not just on rural post offices, including a reduction of service to five days a week.
Adkins said US Postal does not get taxpayer money for operation, and managed to break even until the last three or four years, facing inordinate competition with Internet services and other providers.
He said the agency used specific criteria regarding the number of hours spent in offices for customer service on a daily basis, and Orma and Millstone did not reach the demand level.
The meetings are procedural, directed toward providing information to the public and collecting input regarding customer concerns.
"In no way will service be disrupted to customers," said Adkins, when closures happen.
About 25 Millstone postal customers attended the meeting held at the Church of Christ at Millstone.
About 40 attended the closure meeting at Orma, held at the Orma United Methodist Church.
Several residents indicated they will continue to oppose the closure of their local post office.
The Mt. Zion Post office will close permanently this weekend, the postal service says the decision has been made over a lease dispute.
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