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Postal service to get
land for Kihei office
despite freeze

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Star-Bulletin staff

The U.S. Postal Service in Hawaii is acquiring land to expand the Kihei Post Office on Maui, but it will remain vacant indefinitely.

The Postal Service is freezing hundreds of new construction and leasing projects across the country to block massive losses as costs rise and business falls.

The agency's governing board also issued a warning Thursday that unless there are changes in the laws that regulate how the post office operates, universal service to every home every day could be in danger.

Felice Broglio, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Post Office, said curtailing mail service isn't being discussed here. The first option is to cut administrative costs, she said.

Salaries and benefits for the 3,000 postal employees in Hawaii, Guam, Northern Marianas and American Samoa represent 76 percent of total operational costs, she said.

New contracts are being negotiated with the unions, she said, including the National Association of Letter Carriers (the largest), American Postal Workers Union, National Association of Rural Letter Carriers and Mail Handlers' Union.

The $3 million Kihei project was planned to accommodate the community's growth, Broglio said.

Purchase of land in the Kihei Research and Technology Park is close to be completed, but the building will be delayed, she said.