Martin City Post Office closes door

By CHRIS PETERSON — Hungry Horse News

Last Friday (Sept. 28) was the last day Martin City had its own post office. The boxes were taken out and moved down to the Hungry Horse post office. So folks in Martin City, at least for a couple of months, maybe longer, maybe forever, will be without a post office.

And that's kind of sad.

"It really upsets me. Because they're taking something from our community," said independent contractor Valerie Johnson, her eyes turning puffy and red but not quite crying. "We're the only business here that isn't a bar."

You see, what happened was in July, Johnson put paper to pencil and figured that the U.S. Postal Service was paying her about $21,000 as an independent contractor to run the post office in Martin City for 42 hours a week.

Johnson had to maintain the building from that cash. Pay the electric and the heat and herself and one employee who came in so she could get a day off.

All told, Johnson figured she'd cleared $7,000 a year.

So she asked for more money from the Postal Service. They refused, she said, like they have several times before. She claimed she hadn't gotten a raise in a long time.

So she gave up the contract after being the postmaster for 14 years.

The Postal Service then did a search for a new contractor. One bid was submitted. It was rejected, said Sally Tuomi, marketing manager of the postal service in Billings.

Tuomi won't talk about the particulars of Johnson's contract, saying its privileged information.

But suffice it to say that folks who used to get their mail in Martin City now will get it in Hungry Horse, though it will still have a Martin City address and ZIP code.

Folks in town started a petition and got Montana Sen. Jon Tester involved. Tester asked the agency to reconsider closing the post office last week.

Tester contacted John DiPeri, the Big Sky district manager for the U.S. Postal Service, urging him to keep the post office open.

DiPeri then met with Virginia Sloan, Tester's Kalispell representative, and House District 3 representative on Tuesday.

The two had a barrage of questions for DiPeri, including the prospect of bringing the post office back to Martin City.

To that end there's been a bit of a compromise, said DiPeri. The Postal Service is going to send out surveys at the end of two months asking folks if their service is better or worse than it was with a post office in town. Judging the reaction from folks picking up their mail, they're not too pleased already (see related story).

If it is worse, DiPeri said the Postal Service would then reconsider putting the post office services up for bid again. But there is no guarantee anyone would be successful.

DiPeri said he was hopeful someone would be able to make the post office part of a business, like it is in Hungry Horse, where it is next to the grocery store.

DiPeri also said the Postal Service is considering putting gang boxes in Martin City so folks don't have to go to Hungry Horse to get their mail if they don't want to.

Sloan said it's up to folks in Martin City to let their voices be heard that they want to maintain their post office.

"It's up to the community to step forward," she said.

She said then Tester's office can get further involved as well.

DiPeri said when the postal service looks at a bid, economics aren't always a driving force. There's also community considerations as well. He said he didn't like shutting down post offices.

Tuomi noted that it looked at Martin City as a rural route — where mail is delivered to homes directly at mail boxes, but she claimed it wasn't "cost effective."

Johnson, meanwhile, has found herself a new job as a cashier at Don K Chevrolet. She'll miss the post office. The people. The stories. The building will likely be converted into a shop.

"I think (the postal service) has been wanting to get rid of contract stations for years," she said.