Negotiations failed for Brantingham postal contract, customers to be rerouted to Glenfield Post Office

Julie Abbass, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·4 min read

Oct. 27—BRANTINGHAM — People with a post office box at the Brantingham Post Office will receive one last mail delivery there today and among their mail will be a letter from the U.S. Postal Service letting them know that as of Thursday, their mail box will be relocated to nearby Glenfield.

The USPS has had a Contract Postal Unit at the back of the Brantingham General Store, 5508 Partridgeville Rd., owned by Juanita and Joe Bush for about 10 years, according to the town of Greig Superintendent Marilyn Patterson, but negotiations to continue the relationship stalled this month and the Bushes decided not to sign a new contract.

"Apparently the facility in Brantingham declined to continue offering that service to the local residents. Right now, we don't have another location ... The negotiations fell through. That wasn't our choosing," said USPS Communications Specialist Xavier C. Hernandez. "That doesn't mean we won't be interested in establishing one in the future, but because we have to continue delivery service on a daily basis to those customers, all of those deliveries to the 'P.O. Box Post Office' (in Brantingham) will be moved to Glenfield."

As of Thursday, mail delivery for Brantingham customers will be at the Glenfield Post Office at 6036 Main St., but until the actual mailboxes have been outfitted in their new location, mail customers will be able to pick up their mail from the window.

The actual address and zip code to be used by Brantingham mail customers will be the same and there will be no charge for the relocated mailboxes.

"The (Glenfield) postmaster indicated that folks who would like to establish delivery to a mailbox can do so on Brantingham Road," Mr. Hernandez said. "We have limitations on how our operations go. Right now we have a delivery already that goes on that road so it's on what we call the 'carrier line of travel.' Because there's an employee already going up and down that road, we can work-in mailboxes to be installed on that road."

Anyone living on Brantingham Road who opts to set up a mailbox, however, will no longer be eligible for a free post office box in Glenfield because there can't be two forms of free delivery for a customer.

Mr. Hernandez said new delivery routes are only added if there is a population increase in an area because the costs of adding another employee and vehicle "add up exponentially and it's difficult to justify ... especially since the postal service is just getting by barely. Hopefully someday we'll be in a better position where we don't have to make such careful calculations, but that's where we are right now."

Mrs. Patterson said she had offered the old town barn building as an alternative site for the post office or even a section of the library or municipal office. However, she said they each had drawbacks making them unsuitable.

According to Mr. Hernandez, however, the USPS has not finished looking for a suitable location for a new contract postal unit.

Anyone who does not work for USPS with a business that does not house any other postal or delivery services and is not directly connected to a "room where intoxicating beverages are sold" to be consumed on the premises can send their business name, address and phone number to AlternateAccess@usps.gov to learn more about contracting with the agency.

Business or property owners who enter into a contract with the postal service are not employees of the post office, Mr. Hernandez said, and while they are compensated "an amount to make sure that all of those things (agreed upon services) can be covered," it is not a situation with much money-making potential. The general store owners confirmed that they had been receiving the same amount of compensation for the past 10 years and that negotiations to increase that amount failed, but they declined to answer further questions stating, "It's a done deal. There's no point in talking about it."

The Brantingham General Store, which has a diner, basic grocery shopping and a gas pump, has been listed for sale at $445,000 since September 2020. The listing was updated on Tuesday.

Residents living on Brantingham Road who are interested in setting up mailbox mail delivery should contact Glenfield Postmaster Joy Jackson at 315-376-6166.