Published: January 12, 2009 11:27 pm         

Postal presence continues downtown

TERRE HAUTE — You can still buy stamps, mail a certified letter or send an insured package from the heart of downtown, thanks to the new Indiana State University contract postal unit in the federal building at Seventh and Cherry streets.

Monday was the first full day of operation for the new facility, which is in a newly renovated part of the 1932 structure. While the postal service customer windows formerly were on the east side of the building, the new contract postal unit operates on the west side.

“ISU understands there is a need downtown for a postal presence,” said Jim Jensen, director of operational services for the ISU Facilities Maintenance Department. “This is exciting for us,” he said.

The U.S. Postal Service and ISU signed a performance-based contract for an undetermined number of years allowing the university to operate the contract postal unit while also operating the university’s campus mail service out of the same facility, Jensen said.

The new facility, which will operate much like a traditional post office branch, will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“It’s been very busy,” said Sheri Hughes, a former U.S. Postal Service postmaster and the manager of the university mail/postal service, speaking of the unit’s opening day. “It’s going pretty well.”

Unlike traditional post offices, money orders will not be available at the ISU-run facility, Hughes said. Also, the contract postal station cannot accept credit-card payments. Otherwise, customers will notice no big differences from a typical post office, she said.

As with the old post office, the new contract facility also offers hundreds of post office boxes. Customers who had a post office box in the old facility have been issued new boxes and new box numbers, Jensen said. Additionally, the U.S. Postal Service is allowing customers whose post office box numbers changed up to one year to change their stationery and make other adjustments required by their new P.O. box numbers, he said.

Access to the post office boxes will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to noon Saturday, according to an ISU news release.

ISU hired three additional full-time employees to man the new postal unit bringing the total number of employees at the postal and mail services facility to seven plus one student employee, Jensen said. An employee of the U.S. Postal Service also has been on-site recently helping train the staff, he noted.

ISU has estimated the revenue and expenses it will face by running the new facility, Jensen said, adding that it’s not intended to be a money-maker for the university. “This is to provide a service that is very important to the downtown,” he said. “ISU didn’t want to see the postal presence in the downtown go away.”

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.