The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

To The Eagle:

Here's an update on the Skamokawa Post office situation.

So far we have just received standard responses to our letters involving our Skamokawa Post Office and whether or not we are going to be able to keep it here, where it's been since 1873! I was a bit annoyed to see that being able to buy stamps from our carrier as a main focus in the response letter from the Discontinuance Office, which was the least of our concerns, not to mention that we already knew we could do that, so that was hardly an issue, but it seemed to be the only one they addressed. The fact that my husband and I both received two identical letters each, to two very separate survey responses, was another reason to be a bit irritated as it meant to me that they did not really bother to take our true concerns into their thought process at all, and instead, mailed out a blanket, redundant form letter that cost the postal department double to boot due to their double letter mailing system; maybe they could save money if they didn't have that sort of thing going on!

When I want to mail an over-weight letter, I cannot just have my carrier deal with it. That letter has to be taken to a post office to be weighed, which is a 22 mile round trip for me and even further for others. Not only is this a huge time factor but a very big cost factor for those of us who live out here as gas is not cheap, nor is all the added wear and tear on one's vehicle. For those of us who do not deal with on-line services this still means another 20 mile trip for other services. And I'm pretty sure my mail carrier is not going to be weighing packages in her car, which means another trip to Cathlamet would be in order.

Places that get mail at our post office, like the Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds, or Skamokawa Grange Hall or Redmen Hall, do not want their mail going to a rural box as they are not always manned or open, and so a post office box makes great sense due to the security one has at the post office for receiving donations and such. If this post office is closed, it will also cause the people in charge of these places or organizations a lot of hassle, as they will have to make that trip to Cathlamet as well.

At any rate, many of us are trying our hardest to keep our Skamokawa Post Office here and I hope you will continue to make some noise and try to keep it. I'm not sure how many of you have yet to write a letter or two about the post office situation, but if you haven't, I hope you'll get some in the mail today and if you already have, please write some more. It can't hurt. Let's let Stephanie Wood hear from us; call her at 503-294-2338 and tell her what you think. However, you need to keep your conversation polite, but still let her know that the letter you received signed by David Boos was not to your liking. You can write to him at: David Boos, Manager, Post Office Operations, P. O. Box 3609, Portland, OR 97208-3609....his letter was an insult to all of us who took the time to fill out his survey. And yes, continue to write to your representatives as well!

Kay Chamberlain

Skamokawa