Residents: ‘Tragedy’ To See Manoa Shopping Center’s Post Office Close

After the U.S. Postal Service decided to close the post office at the Manoa Shopping Center, some area residents are upset over the Friday, June 17 closing.

The closing came about after the U.S. Postal Service conducted a survey last year of 3,300 post offices to determine how many were needed, according to a press release.

The press release stated that it was discovered that most of the U.S. Postal Service’s customers are using email and text messages, among other things, and it decided to close two post offices in the area.

• , Havertown, PA 19083
• 6901 Market Street, Upper Darby, PA 19082

The press release did not state if other post offices in the country would be closed.

“We will continue to look at ways to cut costs and save money while serving our customers,” Cathy Yarosky, spokeswoman for the U.S Postal Office stationed in Philadelphia, told the Haverford-Havertown Patch in a phone interview on Monday.

James J. Gallagher, Philadelphia metropolitan district manager, went further to explain the closing of the two post offices.

“Given the extraordinary decline in mail volume—a decline of nearly 26 billion pieces this past year alone—we must take action to reduce the size of our retail and delivery network,” Gallagher said in the release. The press release accompanies this article below the pictures.

Yarosky said the Internet and digital technologies are not the only reasons that contributed to the decline of people using the post office.

An estimated 35 percent of postal services come from alternative access locations, she said, explaining that people may buy items, such as envelopes and stamps, at a Wal-Mart, for example.  

And adding to the fact that many customers have been using the U.S. Postal Service's website for their mailing needs, Yarosky said there has been a “decline of the brick-and-mortar” post offices.

But a few customers of the “brick-and-mortar” post office located in the Manoa Shopping Center do not want to see it go anywhere.

“I think it’s a tragedy, in my opinion,” Havertown resident Tony Sabatine told Patch out front of the post office Tuesday morning. He said he has been using that particular branch for 25 years. “It’s easy to get to when you’re shopping.”

Haverford Township’s District Judge Bob Burke was also doing business at the post office when he told Patch, “I’m sorry to hear it’s closing. It’s not a good thing for the area. Lots of people use this post office.”

He said the alternative post office in Havertown, located on , is inconvenient because of the limited parking.

Jim Welischek, a clerk at the Manoa Shopping Center’s post office, said he has been working at the office for two years. While Welischek, a full-time employee, and a coworker, an unnamed part-timer, will be transferred to the Township Line Road post office, he said that he sees a lot of customers come into the shopping center’s post office daily.

“We’re fairly busy,” he said, adding that up to 250 people come into the small post office every day.

Yarosky said she did not know the exact age of the post office at the Manoa Shopping Center, but believes it to be at least 50 years old. Welischek can attest to that. 

“Just today I had a customer tell me he’s been coming here for 51 years,” he said.