Save Mart Supermarkets

Customers comment on possible post office closures

Letter carriers from the East Bakersfield post office will begin moving to the Brundage station within a month or two as part of a U.S. Postal Service plan to cut costs, but it's still unclear if the location will close entirely.

That had customers at the East Bakersfield branch talking Wednesday.

Tony McClure, 70, who has had a post office box for his insurance business at the station for 30 years, is concerned about a possible closure.

"I think it would be bad for (Old Town Kern), because it brings people to the area," he said.

Earlier this week, the postal service announced it was launching a study of about 3,700 retail offices nationwide to see if those locations are really needed.

Among those on the study list are:

* East Bakersfield, 727 Kentucky St.,

* Tupman, 337 Emmons Blvd., and

* Fellows, 36 Midway Road.

Most of the stations being reviewed have less than $27,500 a year in annual revenue, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement.

The East Bakersfield station is only 2.4 miles away from another station at 2525 E. Brundage Lane, and it's in a leased building, whereas the postal service owns the Brundage location, said Bakersfield Postmaster Jim Brouillard.

The letter carriers will relocate for sure, but customers in the 93305 ZIP code will continue to have the same letter carriers and delivery times, Brouillard said.

What's up in the air is what will become of the post office boxes and people behind the customer service counter. The station also has a manager whose position is at risk.

East Bakersfield has 30 employees, but temporary hires are sometimes brought in to supplement them, Brouillard said. Tupman has one permanent employee and Fellows has three.

Even if the stations close -- which is yet to be determined -- no one would be laid off, Brouillard said.

"I have vacancies in the area that everyone who would be affected could be placed in," he said. "We'll find everyone a home."

That was on the mind of Ruben Lopez, 70, a regular customer who lives in the area and stopped by Wednesday morning for the sole purpose of checking on employees.

"So far I'm hearing everyone's going to be all right, which is good," he said.

Employees declined to comment, directing questions to the postmaster.

Sonia Cervantes, 39, said a closure would be little more than an inconvenience for her because she has Internet access and can do a lot of her business on the postal service's website, but she worries about people who don't own computers.

Fresh & Easy Buzz: Save Mart Supermarkets Signs On For Five More ...

"We are excited to continue our partnership with Infineon Raceway as co-title sponsor of the Cup Series event and look forward to finding new ways to celebrate with racing fans across every community we serve," Piccinini, who's a rabid auto racing and sports fan - he's also a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors professional basketball team and the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres pro- baseball teams - says. "Our sponsorship continues to build strong brand recognition and provide great value to our loyal supplier partners and shoppers. It's been a great ride so far and we are ready for more." Earlier this year Piccinini, who invested in the team (an about 20% ownership stake, according to our sources) last fall as part of a new ownership group that bought out the team's previous owners for $450 million, was named a member of the Warrior's four-person executive board, which is headed by majority owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. Read the October 27, 2010 column by our 'The Insider' But back at the races, Steve Page, who runs Infineon Raceway in Sonoma Valley said in announcing th new five year deal with Save Mart Supermarkets he inked with Piccinini: "Our relationship with Save Mart continues to evolve in new and positive ways." They are an engaged, active and promotionally-oriented partner and the synergy between our respective organizations has only grown stronger over these 20-years. We couldn't be more delighted to announce this new agreement and extension." The new five year deal in which Save Mart will continue to sponsor the annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Infineon Raceway, also means the grocery chain's 12-foot high motorized shopping cart, which is powered by a 454 cubic inch Chevy engine, will be getting a lot more use. And that's an added reason Save Mart should look into the world record-holding potential its giant shopping cart holds, as described in our story yesterday . Fresh & Easy Buzz is an independent Blog and is not affiliated with Tesco, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market or any of its competitors. We welcome your tips at Fresh & Easy Buzz. Your anonymity is guaranteed. Our policy is if your tip passes our vetting and fact checking process, and we decide to use any information you provide us, we will not use your name unless you give us your express permission to do so. At no time do we ever share our sources with others.