Bixby Knolls post office closing P.O. box service relocating to north Long Beach station

Cory Bilicko
Managing Editor
Buying stamps and shipping packages will soon become considerably less convenient for many unlucky residents this Friday the 13th.
The Bixby station of the United States Postal Service (USPS) will shutter its doors and discontinue service at noon on Feb. 13. However, it is unclear whether the shutdown is part of the USPS’s trend of post-office cutbacks in recent years. According to USPS officials, the postal service has “lost” its lease there and is being forced out.
However, service that has been provided at that site, located at 4580 Atlantic Ave., will be relocated to the north Long Beach station at 101 E. Market St., where renovations have been underway, according to Richard Maher, USPS spokesperson for Los Angeles and Orange counties.
“Flooring is being replaced at North Long Beach Station on Market Street,” Maher said. “Post-office boxes from Bixby Station will be installed there over the Presidents’ Day weekend and will reopen on Tuesday, Feb. 17.”
Referring to the move as an “emergency relocation,” the USPS is transferring post-office-box service to that north Long Beach station just for the short term. “This move is a temporary solution to provide uninterrupted service while a search for a permanent location takes place,” states a Jan. 28 USPS press release, which also indicates that P.O. box numbers and ZIP codes will not change.
All Bixby station post-office-box customers have been notified directly by mail, Maher said.
Despite the USPS making accommodations for customers during the transition, U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA 47th District), in an email to the Signal Tribune Tuesday, said he is “very troubled” about the closure of the post office.
“Last summer, amid conflicting information about whether the site was being studied for closure, I contacted the U.S. Postal Service directly to vehemently advocate for the Bixby Knolls location remaining open,” Lowenthal said. “I was told at the time that the Bixby Knolls Post Office was not being studied for closure. Now, I am being told, as you have heard, that the office is set to close…I am disappointed by the lack of notice provided to both my office and my constituents about this closure, especially as I understand that USPS made the decision not to renew its annual lease on this location back in 2013.”
On Thursday, Lowenthal’s office followed up with the Signal Tribune, stating that the congressmember had met with a USPS representative, who had agreed to several of Lowenthal’s requests, which include: sending another letter to affected Bixby Knolls constituents with specific information about whom to contact if they experience a disruption in service; a prioritization and expedition of the search for a new facility; and another meeting between the congressmember and USPS in 30 to 45 days.
Lowenthal also reported that: the USPS was not able to undertake the typical relocation process because of time constraints; the existing lease is month-to-month; letter-carrier operations will move to the Redondo Avenue facility, which the USPS assures will not affect customers; the USPS eventually plans to return letter carriers to Bixby Knolls; and the USPS’s next step will be to seek community input through an event that will involve local stakeholders, including elected officials.
After the post office’s lease was up for renewal in mid 2013, the USPS opted not to sign a long-term lease and has been on a month-to-month lease ever since, according to information provided by 8th District Councilmember Al Austin’s office.
Austin, who represents the district in which the Bixby station is located, posted an announcement about the post office’s closure on Facebook on Jan. 28, as well as the letter that he had sent to Long Beach Postmaster Tyrone M. Williams. In the letter, the councilmember expressed disappointment in the decision to not renew the lease.
“While I certainly understand the financial constraints of the post office,” Austin wrote, “I would like to strongly encourage you to find a suitable location nearby to continue U.S. Postal Service to the residents impacted by this closure.”
Citing “several USPS spokespeople,” Austin said although the new facility is likely to be smaller than the existing Bixby Knolls post office because of the permanent relocation of the postal carriers to the Long Beach Boulevard facility, both the post-office boxes and retail services will eventually return to the general Bixby Knolls vicinity.
Blair Cohn, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association, said although no one wants to see the post office close, he understands the “big picture” aspect of the situation. He acknowledged that more people nowadays are utilizing email and that the federal government’s cuts eventually trickle down to cities and neighborhoods.
“There are plenty of factors that we can’t fight. We can’t fight what the federal government is going to do with its postal service,” Cohn said. “On the one hand, I’m bummed but also understand what’s happening in the bigger picture. However, we’re trying somehow, some way to see if they can even just relocate from where they are and keep it in the neighborhood, if possible. I’m not sure if it’s a reality, but it’s worth trying.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Long Beach resident Mary Priest was outside the post office writing down information from a sign posted on the front door about its impending closure. Priest said that, although she lives on the west side of Long Beach, she prefers to use the Bixby location.
“This is where I come to the post office. It’s bigger and better, and it’s got everything,” Priest said. “We have a post office— the Cabrillo post office— but it doesn’t have everything that this one does.”
Although signs posted throughout the post office clearly state that it is permanently closing, there was still some uncertainty among customers as to the future of the postal station.
Beverly Austin, who said she grew up in Bixby Knolls but now lives in San Bernardino County, maintains a post-office box at the Bixby station because of that location’s service and the fact that she can access her box there 24 hours a day. She said she is curious about how the Market Street location, which she described as a “hole in the wall post office,” will accommodate all the customers from the Bixby station, especially considering its limited hours of business.
“It doesn’t fit my schedule,” Austin said. “But they said it’s just going to be temporary.”
She said she recently renewed her post-office box at Bixby and is confused about how the relocation will take place, particularly since a postal worker informed her that her current key will also work in the new location, she said.
Austin said she has gotten to know numerous customers who frequent the location that is closing— many of whom are elderly— and she is concerned about how they are going to fare with the Market Street site, which she considers less safe than the one in Bixby Knolls.
“I’m confused,” Austin said. “And then I was trying to tell my little friend who came here today— she’s very confused. She rides her bike here, and she’s like 78 years old [and wondered], “Where am I going to go?…As you can see, this post office is filled with a lot of seniors. They’re confused. They don’t know what the hell is going on.”
If the USPS’s decision not to renew the lease at the Bixby station was indeed a financial one, it might be the result of what the postal service sees as a faulty business model.
In November of 2014, the USPS reported that its operating revenue increased $569 million in Fiscal Year 2014 (Oct. 1, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014). Excluding a one-time adjustment to revenue of $1.3 billion in 2013, resulting from a change in an accounting estimate for Forever stamps, 2014 operating revenue would have increased by $1.9 billion, according to USPS, which stated that this revenue growth resulted from the January 2014 price increase and strong growth in the shipping and packages business.
Offsetting that positive news, however, were “legislative burdens and constraints” that contributed to a $5.5-billion net loss in 2014. “This eighth consecutive annual net loss underscores the need for comprehensive legislation to repair the Postal Service’s broken business model,” states a USPS press release. “The net loss includes $5.7 billion for the prefunding requirement of the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund and an additional $1.2 billion in non-cash workers’ compensation expense, consisting of $485 million related to changes in interest rates and $697 million of other non-cash workers’ compensation expense. These items are outside of management’s control.”
The U.S. Postal Service reported that it had exceeded its holiday delivery projections this recent holiday season, delivering approximately 524 million packages in December— an 18-percent increase over last year. Additionally, on Dec. 22 alone, the postal service delivered more than 28 million packages, the most delivered in a single day in the organization’s history, according to USPS, which also indicated that the package-delivery record was set while also delivering approximately 463 million pieces of mail.
In addition to the Market Street station, other alternate locations for retail service include: Pacific station, 1920 Pacific Ave., which is open Monday through Friday, from 9am to 5pm; Lakewood Post Office, 5200 Clark Ave., which is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5pm and Saturdays from 9:30am to 2pm; and the GMF station, 2300 Redondo Ave., which is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5pm. The north Long Beach station is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Letter-carrier delivery operations currently located at the Bixby station for the 90807 ZIP code will relocate to the GMF station. There will be no impact to mail delivery, and this move will be transparent to customers, according to the USPS. ß