Fork fights to save post office from planned closure

The post office. Many dread the thought of entering a place where, as often than not, they encounter long lines, poor service and sour attitudes.

They don’t dread it at the post office in Fork.

There, Postmaster Linda Foxworth greets everyone with a smile, just as she has for more than 20 years. She’s cheery, kind and efficient in her work. And the post office’s patrons love her.

And they love their post office.

“It is a gathering place,” Gail Rogers, a regular customer, said. “We feel like it is where neighbors meet, we find out news … it is just a vital part of this community.”

It’s avital part that could disappear in the not-too-distant future.

Fork is one of several hundred rural stations the U.S. Postal Service is thinking about closing. Facing a giant budget crisis, the postal service has proposed closure of more than 600 facilities nationwide in a cost-cutting measure which could save millions of dollars. The closure of the Fork Post Office would save about $41,027 per year and more than $330,000 over 10 years, said Harry Spratlin, communications director for the Greater South Carolina District of the postal service.

The deed isn’t done yet. The postal service is studying the matter. Fork patrons, and anyone else who’s interested, will have a chance to weigh in Thursday night. A 6 p.m. meeting at Fork Baptist Church will feature postal officials and conversation about the planned closure.

As you might expect, the Fork Post Office isn’t a big place. The building, in service since the 1940s, is a former country store with room for a counter and 100 boxes, about 55 of which are in use. Foxworth sees about 25 customers a day.

Shutting it down wouldn’t inconvenience lots of people, but it would be a tragedy all the same, said Neal Rogers, a Fork Post Office supporter who has more than your average connection to the place. He is, literally, the post office’s No. 1 fan. He rents P.O. Box 1 at Fork, and is the third generation of his family to have the special box.

“I have it, my daddy had it, and my granddaddy had it,” he said. “We just can’t do without our post office.”

It is, Rogers said, “the identification of Fork.”

Aside from the sentimental and emotional ties, losing the Fork station would mean a hardship for some patrons. If they post office closed, they’d have to drive about 6 miles to Mullins for their mail. That’s not a huge distance, but in a town where there are a lot of elderly residents, a trip like that could pose problems.

Just down the street and around the corner from the post office is Sunny Acres Nursing Home where more than 100 of Fork’s 600 or so residents live. Every day, at least two or three times a day, Anita Lane, an employee of the nursing home, makes the trip to the post office to send and pick up mail for the residents. Its closure would mean Lane would have to make the trip to Mullins several times a day.

“For our many of our residents, their mail is the only connection to the outside world.” Lane said. “They wake up looking forward to it every day.”

The trip to Mullins wouldn’t be a problem just for the residents at Sunny Acres. Many of Fork’s residents don’t drive and already have to pay someone for trips to the store. Losing the post office would mean added expense to the residents.

But it’s not just the older people in town who love their post office. It’s their grandkids too.

“Everytime I am visiting my grandparents, I look forward to the post office,” 10-year-old Grace Harlow wrote in a letter to state and federal legislative delegations protesting the closure. “Afterward we might go to Mr. Bobby’s store next door … before you even think of closing it, visit the post office … take a survey … interview the people picking up their mail.”

A survey is under way, and postal representatives will be at Thursday’s meeting. For now ,the hope in Fork is that all remains the same and the post office stays home.

“Being small,” said John Harlow, Grace’s grandfather, “doesn’t mean we are insignificant.”