Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Cale gets reprieve, Post Office not closing

Cale's Post Office won't be closing, at least for now, according to Mayor Davis Benton.

Benton said he had called Congressman Mike Ross about the situation, and Ross helped the postal authorities change their mind about closing the office down.

In the meantime, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will work to try and find a new postmaster for the Cale office. Benton said if the USPS can't get someone from the immediate area within the next two months, then the effort will change direction and the USPS will try and find someone it can train for the job.

On Oct. 2, Patti Robinson, marketing manager with the USPS, spoke at a town meeting in Cale, outlining why the USPS was planning on closing the Post Office down. The reason, she said, wasn't economic, but the inability to find anyone to come and work there for what it pays.

Postmasters's salaries are based on the income generated by the offices they run.

In addition, she said, there were 18 paid box holders, with 14 of these having mail boxes at their homes as well.

The Cale Post Office was open two hours a day, and its revenue dropped from $2,000 annually to $1,000 a year. On top of this, the former postmaster retired.

Postmasters, Robinson said, are career positions and were originally set up under Congress for one office only.

Robinson said, at the meeting, the USPS would deliver mail to the homes of residents, or they could get boxes at the Rosston Post Office. An offer was also made to construct a neighborhood delivery box with 16 units. This box would have cost the USPS a one-time fee of $900, and provide residents the security they don't have with rural mailboxes.

At the meeting a date of Oct. 17 was given as the closing date for the Cale Post Office.

The City of Cale receives $2,400 a year from a lease agreement with the USPS, and this fee constitutes the majority of the city's revenue. Benton said the city has three sources of income, a 5 mill tax, state turnback funds and the USPS lease agreement.

The loss of the lease money, he said, would affect the community adversely.

"Cale gets a reprieve from the closing," Benton said