Thursday, December 8, 2011

For this week's Good Question, we answer a question from a concerned viewer.

He asks, after hearing Salina is on a list of possible Post Office closures, "If my office closes, will P.O. Boxes still be active or will residents need to use their house address?"

Good question.

In order to stop losing cash, the U.S. Postal Service is proposing closing several smaller post offices across the country. Six Kansas mail processing centers are among 252 facilities the postal service is looking to close to prevent bankruptcy next year. Facilities in Colby, Dodge city, Hays, Hutchinson, LIberal and Salina are on the list.

Our viewer wants to know if his post office closes, can he keep his P.O. Box.

We called the Salina Post Office and spoke to a man who said if an office closes, the P.O. Boxes inside that facility would need to be changed to either a home address for rural delivery or to another P.O. Box in a different facility.

Darlene Larson of Milan already knew that. Her local Post Office closed last month.

"I've seen it coming, but it's sad because it's gone," she told KAKE News.

She had a P.O. Box in the office for 55 years.

"I always came in here and opened it," she said.

Bottom line: If it's determined your local Post Office with your P.O. Box is closing, you will have time to make the changes necessary to ensure you get your mail.

If you have a Good Question, send it to news@kake.com. We'll do our best to answer your Good Question every Thursday on KAKE News at 6.