State-Journal.com - Stamp machines sent packing

Photo By Photo by Kelly MackeyCathy Whitis feeds money into a stamp machine at the Frankfort Post Office to avoid the sometimes-slow post office line. The postal service has announced it plans to phase out stamp machines over the next two years.

Frankfort's stamp machines at post offices will soon be a thing of the past.

Postmaster Donald Hopper said the U.S. Postal Service is removing 23,000 machines nationwide by 2010.

Hopper said the postal service no longer makes new machines and maintenance costs are too high to keep them.

Local postal employee Brian Moore, who's in charge of maintaining the machines, said they account for approximately 600 transactions per week.

Moore said the machines require costly upgrades whenever the government issues new currency. He cited the constant upgrades and the inability to get replacement parts as why the machines are becoming obsolete.

Nearly 6,000 are being removed per year until they're all gone, according to the postal Web site.

No dates have been set to remove the machines from the downtown and west-side offices in Frankfort, according to Hopper, but removal is underway in Lexington and Georgetown.

Customers can purchase stamps in other ways, including mail, the Internet, contract stations in local businesses and from rural mail carriers on their routes.

There is a $1 shipping charge when buying postage online, but customers receive free shipping when they order stamps by phone at 1-800-STAMPS24.

Automated postal centers are going to replace machines in many areas, but, so far, they haven't been successful in Kentucky. APCs accept credit cards and customers can weigh packages, buy stamps and pay for postage.

"(APCs are) the future of the post office," Hopper said.

However, Hopper said there already was an APC in the downtown post office, but it was removed because people weren't using it.

"We kept it in here for two years, and nobody used the thing," Hopper said.
He said the office location and reluctance of customers to use their credit cards were possible reasons the machine was unsuccessful.

"There are no plans to bring one back because the cost of the machine versus use of the machine doesn't justify one being here," Hopper said.

"They pulled them out of Frankfort and about five other cities in Kentucky because they weren't being used," he said.

The postal service is also looking at areas around Frankfort to install additional first-class mailboxes, Hopper said.

Density surveys are being conducted about how much mail each box receives daily.
"They look at where the boxes are the heaviest in use and try to place boxes in those areas," Hopper said.

Currently, most boxes are downtown and on the west side, but a need is expected at the new Parkside development off U.S. 60 at the Interstate 64 interchange, according to Hopper.