Viola post office closure causes hardship for locals
Oct. 27—When Linda Hardesty visited the U.S. Postal Service office in Viola earlier this month to pick up her mail, she noticed an unusual sign taped to the door.
The notice informed residents the post office would no longer offer retail services at its location on Main Street effective Oct. 15.
"If you have any questions or concerns, you can direct them to the Moscow post office," the sign stated.
After contacting the Moscow post office, Hardesty learned she could keep her address the same, but the mail typically sent to her P.O. Box in Viola would instead be available in Moscow for the time being.
What was once a two-mile trek from her farmhouse to the post office is currently about a half-hour drive round-trip.
"To get our mail now, we have to visit Moscow during business hours and stand in line at the window to get our mail," Hardesty said. "Some of the older folks around Viola walked to the post office. I don't know if all of them even drive."
Despite questions being forwarded to the post office in Moscow, which oversaw the Viola post office when it was open, she said many inquiries from residents went unanswered in the days following the closure.
Hardesty said her neighbors began speculating about what could've possibly caused the seemingly abrupt halt to postal operations in the town of about 700 people.
"A number of people have called and they've all gotten different stories about what's going to happen," she said. "Another neighbor was told they're going to move our post office boxes to the lobby in Moscow, but we were told no, they're not."
Moscow interim postmaster Danene Johnson declined to comment and directed all inquiries regarding the closure to a corporate office in Seattle.
"Apparently the property owner, where the Viola post office is located — or was located, decided she wanted to do something else with property," said Ernie Swanson, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Seattle. "She didn't want to renew the lease."
He said residents who used to retrieve their mail in Viola can get a P.O. Box at one of the two closest offices in Moscow or Potlatch. They can also buy stamps, send parcels and do other business at the locations.
Otherwise, people can sign up to have mail delivered to their home address. But for some, home-delivery may not be a feasible option.
Hardesty, who lives on a farm, said she can't have mail delivered to her property because it's not secure.
"We've had our mailbox vandalized a number of times and the snowplows knock it over," she said. "And they don't lock, so you can't get prescriptions that way."
She worried other small communities might be experiencing the same thing. Last year, the post office building in Deary shut down and temporarily shifted operations to a postal vehicle as a solution.
It's unclear how long the post office in Viola may remain closed, but it likely won't return to the same building. According to Swanson, there's no available property to move into.
If something was available in Viola, and the price was right, he said they would consider it.
"We're open to that, but in the meantime, we have to take care of our customers," he said. "At this point, there's not a post office in Viola and we don't see the likelihood that there will be, unless the property owner changes her mind."
Swanson said letters notifying customers of the closure were placed in P.O. Boxes two weeks before service in Viola ended.
However, Hardesty told the Daily News she hadn't received a notice.
"They didn't even bother to put a note in our mailbox or anything telling us what's going on," she said. "The sign on the door just appeared one day."
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Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter@apalermotweets.
