A TOWN WITHOUT A POST OFFICE

In Minnesota, and across the country, when people think of any size town, they expect there to be at least one thing.
A post office.
Last week, in a press release the United States Postal Service, announced that the City of Claremont Post Office would have an emergency suspension of services, due to safety concerns.
“Due to excessive snow causing structural safety issues, the U.S. Postal Service has made the decision to emergency suspend the Claremont Post Office on Feb.27,” a USPS press release stated.
For Ashley Swift, a long time resident of Claremont, like others, the local post office being closed will be an inconvenience.
“it makes it an inconvenience  to have to go to another town to mail packages,” Swift explained.
Aside from not being able to mail packages in her own town, the post office not being open for a while means that she won’t have one in walking distance for the time being, something she has accustomed to.
“ I enjoy being able to go to the post office and know them and they know me and have it within walking distance,” Swift said.
For Kendrick Steuck, who just moved to Claremont, she echoed much of what Swift said, about the convience of having a local post
office.
 

“It is just nice to have a post office to ship things out and to get things shipped to you,” Steuck stated. “It saves time and money. I just hope they open it soon,” she added.
In the interim, Post Office Box delivery, street delivery and retail services have been relocated to the Kasson Post Office located at 14 E. Veteran’s Memorial Highway in Kasson. The Kasson Post Office is open Monday through Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.  Claremont customers may retrieve their PO Box mail and notice-left items during those times with photo ID. Mail and packages that were in the facility at the time of the closure are not retrievable until a structural engineer is able to evaluate the building and deem safe for employees to enter for retrieval.
The press release explained that the post office building in Claremont is a leased building and they are working on resolving the issues as quickly as possible.
“ We are working to get this process expedited,” the press release stated.
For now, the press release sent out by USPS, indicated that they are uncertain when the facility will be able to reopen, and its main concern is safety.
“The Postal Service will do everything possible to continue providing uninterrupted  service to the community while emphasizing  the safety of our employees and customers as our first priority,” the press release stated.
“At this time, it is unknown when services will resume at the Claremont facility,” the press release went on to state.