EVERETT — It turns out the downtown Everett Post Office isn’t going to need a forwarding address after all.
After an extensive search, the U.S. Postal Service decided it should stay in the building at 3102 Hoyt Ave.
“Our facilities people did what they call a cost-and-benefit analysis and decided it was in our best interest to remain in the site we now have and continue to operate out of there,” said Postal Service spokesman Ernie Swanson.
It is likely that the building will continue to offer the same services with the same staffing level as before.
“I don’t know that there are any plans for immediate changes but there could be down the road,” Swanson said.
The Postal Service began looking for another location in 2014, out of concern that the 45,000-square-foot building was oversized and inefficient for its purposes.
The service was looking for a building about 12,000 square feet in size.
A planned move was always contingent on finding an available location. At one point, The Daily Herald’s former location at 1213 California St. was rumored to be in the running.
“There was some concern that we would be able to find a suitable replacement,” Swanson said.
The Postal Service has been consolidating facilities as part of an effort to get control of mounting losses.
The service lost $5.6 billion for the year that ended Sept. 30, compared to about $5.1 billion for the previous year. Its obligations to pre-fund retiree health benefits at 100 percent amounted to a $5.8 billion cost all by itself.
Instead of downsizing the Everett office, in June 2015, the Postal Service closed its Paine Field location and sold the property for $3.2 million to Everett business owner Greg Goldfinch, according to property records.
Operations were divided among the other two offices in Everett.
“We now have 48 routes that work out of the main Everett post office and 52 routes that work out of the Hardeson Road office,” Swanson said.
A new post office in Edmonds opened July 11.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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