Published: January 11, 2009 09:24 pm      

Bluewell businesses getting easier access to postal service

BLUEWELL — Local businesses will have a new option for receiving and sending mail from Bluewell, but options for residential mail delivery are still being explored.

Bluefield’s postmaster was among the guests Jan. 8 at a meeting of the Bluewell Neighborhood Watch. The community’s businesses and residences have been seeking new postal service ever since the contract post office in Bluewell closed in October 2008. Since the operation was operated by a contractor and not the postal service, it was not reopened with new personnel.

To serve Bluewell businesses, the post office will be installing centralized business units, said Postmaster Michele Stiller.

“They’re like mail boxes, but they’re locked. They’re very secure,” she said. Businesses will be able to send and receive mail from the units.

Options for serving Bluewell’s residential customers are still being explored, Stiller said. Many of the community’s customers now have post office boxes in Montcalm and Bluefield.

“We said we don’t know what’s going to happen to the actual Bluewell station,” she said. “I have no say in whether they get a post office or not. Whatever will happen in Bluewell could take a long time.”

Many Bluewell residents are getting rural route mail service, Stiller said.

“Rural carriers are post offices on wheels,” she said. Rural carriers can sell stamps and money orders, and schedule package pick ups.

Another future possibility is establishing a contract postal unit in a store. Such units can sell stamps and accept packages, but they do not have post office boxes. Getting a post office is the community’s goal, said Skip Crane, coordinator of the Bluewell Neighborhood Watch.

“That was the main concern and we came to a pretty healthy compromise for the near future,” Crane said. “I think the postal service is doing the best they can with the situation they’ve got.”

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com