Goodbye Sheffield Lake Post Office

Well, it looks like one of the small-town amenities of living in Sheffield Lake will be going away – and I'm pretty unhappy about it.

The United States Postal Service is planning on closing our branch located behind the Shoreway Shopping Center and moving its operations (P.O. Boxes, counter service, etc.) over to the cavernous Lorain Carrier Annex on Colorado Avenue (Route 611) in Lorain. I attended the public meeting held Friday night at Brookside High School in which the Post Office officials outlined the reasons for the closing.

You can read John Edwards' informative article about it in The Press online right here.

It was a pretty ugly forum, with a few Sheffield Village residents glad about the move, as they think it will be more convenient for them, and a few Sheffield Lake residents reminding them that it is the Sheffield Lake branch anyway and who cares what they think?

Sheffield Village's mayor didn't seem to have a problem with it either. He hijacked the meeting from the officials at the end to address the crowd, attempting to put a happy face on the proceedings by lamely explaining that we should all be glad that the Post Office was being more efficient and saving money.

Tell that to the Sheffield Lake residents – mostly seniors who don't drive – who were used to walking to the Sheffield Lake Post Office.

I've almost always gone to the Sheffield Lake Post Office to mail packages and buy stamps. Why? Because it's my post office in my town. And it's a mile from my home in the heart of the city.

For my part, at the meeting I gave my best Jimmy Stewart-like speech (although I didn't do my well-honed impression), imploring the officials to keep it open because a post office is one of the things that defines a town, along with its library and city hall. I pointed out that Sheffield Lake sits on U. S. Highway 6, a major cross-country thoroughfare, and that the city needs its Post Office to maintain its identity in the eyes of the federal government and avoid becoming seen as just a punk town.

My comments were met with a round of indifference. Oh well.

Another aspect of small-town life – the local post office – bites the dust.