Altus Postmaster Mike Engle got the word in December from the U.S. Postal Service district office in Oklahoma City to cull any mailboxes in town that weren't being used efficiently.
So, Engle explained, a postal worker did a one-week survey of Altus' 21 mailboxes, "to see if they were justified to be there."
At the time of the survey, Engle said, he did not know the threshold set by the district office in Oklahoma City. He was later told it was set at 25 pieces of mail per day.
Following the survey, he said, 13 mailboxes were targeted for removal. However, only eight have been removed ... at these locations: City Hall, County Courthouse, 1220 Asalee, 100 S. Park, Bunker Hill Shopping Center (in front of United Supermarket), 2101 N. Park, and two on Altus Air Force Base.
The postmaster emphasized that the mailbox purge has nothing to do with questions of manpower utilization, however there are issues of maintenance in the equation. The post office tries to paint each mailbox once a year, he said, at a cost of some $325 each.
Engle wrote a letter last week to the city and county, giving a heads-up, but that did little to soothe the shock for Linda Walker, administrative secretary at City Hall.
Walker points out that the public entities that used the mailbox -- including City Hall, Municipal Court, Police Department, Fire Department, Planning Department and Utility Services -- send out large volumes of mail on a regular basis, a point that for whatever reason was not reflected in the survey (which was not available for inclusion in this report.)
Just last week, Walker said, City Hall sent out 1,022 pieces of mail. "Why is it so inconvenient?" she asked. "This is a public service."
The public entities named above are now delivering their mail each afternoon to the Utility Services office across the street from City Hall, and an employee at the office has been tapped to take the mail to the post office. Utility Services Manager Sally Doughty, who just learned of the change Monday upon return from a week out of the office, said she doesn't foresee any hardships in the offing ... so far.
Jackson County Clerk Louise Snodgrass, who thought the mailbox on the north side of the courthouse had ample mailings to reach the threshold, is taking it all in stride.
"I don't see any point in fussing about it," Snodgrass said. "You just go ahead and do what you have to, so we'll just take it over to the post office from now on."
People are leaving work from the courthouse every afternoon, in any case, she said. "It's not that bid a deal to swing on over to the post office."
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