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Clinton mail carriers will work out of Beloit

CLINTON — Clinton’s three mail carriers on Saturday, Jan. 3, will start delivering mail out of the Beloit post office.

Other than possible changes to delivery times, postal customers should not see any service changes, Clinton and Beloit postmasters said.

The route changes are necessary because of the declining amount of mail processed in the Clinton post office, Postmaster Ray Schiltz said.

The Clinton post office doesn’t move enough mail for two people to sort, but it moves more than he can sort on his own, Schiltz said.

“As a small town postmaster, I can’t sort it all myself,” Schiltz said. “We’re caught in the gray area.”

The Beloit office, 300 Mill St., has clerks to help sort mail that will be delivered by the same carriers that now deliver Clinton mail, Schiltz said.

The Clinton office, 301 Cross St., will stay open to provide retail services, including mailing or shipping letters and packages and buying stamps, Schiltz said.

The U.S. Postal Service has no plans to close the Clinton office, Schiltz said.

“Clinton is too large to close,” Schiltz said. “It’s not a closing scenario. It’s not a consolidation of services.”

Beloit Postmaster Jerry Deppisch agreed that Clinton customers would see few changes.

“The only thing that’s changing is that routes will be relocated to the Beloit post office,” Deppisch said. “It enables us to process that mail here and eliminates transportation. The Clinton post office is going to just continue on like always.”

Clinton hasn’t had a postal clerk since Lisa Brandl left in October 2007. The office hasn’t hired a replacement because the postal union requires the person to work at least two hours per day, and the Clinton office doesn’t move enough mail to fill that requirement, Schiltz said.

The changes will negatively affect his management status and salary, Schiltz said.

When asked, Schiltz said smaller postal offices such as Afton or Sharon are not facing route changes because they already are too small to need both a clerk and a postmaster.

Brandl thinks the delivery changes could negatively affect the Clinton community.

“It’s never good when a town loses a business. Especially a post office,” Brandl said. “In the long run, it’s detrimental to Clinton.”

Some of the finer details still have to be hammered out, Deppisch said, including whether Clinton or Beloit workers will maintain the neighborhood cluster mailboxes common in Clinton.

Clinton postal customers should keep calling the Clinton office at (608) 676-5422 for information or customer service issues, Deppisch said.