York, PA –
The York Post Office needs only a portion of its current home at 200 S. George St., Postmaster Mike Becker said.
The problem, Becker said, is the excess space that it does not need, but still must spend money to maintain.
To remedy that problem, Becker said, the post office listed the South George Street building for sale. Once it finds a buyer, Becker said, it will look for another space to lease downtown.
The post office has no timeline for completing the move, according to Becker.
“When we sell it, we’ll be looking at moving,” Becker said. “That could be tomorrow or two years from now.”
In the meantime, the post office is doing what it can to get ready. An estimator was scheduled to visit the post office Monday to gauge how much it might cost to move to a new location the two black walnut carved statues that stand inside the office, along its entryway.
The neighborhood, however, would feel empty without the post office there, said Diana Rodriguez, of York, who walks to the post office twice a week to send out everything from bills to packages for family out of town.
Its historic look, with a marble façade and soaring columns, befits a post office, Rodriguez said.
“This building is meant for the post office,” she said.
Others, such as Luke Barney, of York, like its convenience. Barney visits at least three times a week to make deliveries for his wife’s business.
His employer, the Salvation Army, also has a post office box there, Barney said.
“That would be a headache,” Barney said of possibly having to travel farther to pick up mail.
The post office is committed to having a presence downtown, Becker said. It plans to look for a new space somewhere between Pershing Avenue to the west and Queen Street to the east; and where the Codorus Creek meets George Street to the north and the Loretta Claiborne Building to the south.
A new location will help the post office — which, nationally, has reported losses in the billions of dollars in recent years — cut down on costs, Becker said.
khoran@ydr.com; 771-2029