Two private mail processing businesses in Salem that have operated for decades could shutter in the fall after the U.S. Postal Service moved to abruptly cancel their contracts.

The two affected businesses are the Mail Depot at 4740 Liberty Road S., and the Postman at 581 Lancaster Dr. S.E. Both have for years operated as Contract Postal Units which means they offer many of the same services as the conventional post office. 

Alex Langford, owner of the Mail Depot, said he got a letter from the U.S. Postal Service on May 30 indicating that his contract would be terminated in 120 days. The letter, which was obtained by Salem Reporter, provides no reason for the cancellation other than a clause in the contract allowing either party to cancel the agreement. 

Langford said a month later he still hasn’t gotten any answers. 

“They’ve given us zero information. After all these years of working as a partner to them and representing their brand, it has been a month since they gave us the notice and they still haven’t given us any information,” Langford told Salem Reporter in an interview. “It is probably the coldest thing I’ve ever seen done.”

The company has had a contract with the Postal Service since 1988. 

Langford said postal clerk Shawna Casey provides oversight for his business, and said she was taken by surprise when the businesses she oversees received the notices. 

Casey declined to comment when a reporter reached out to her via text message and referred Salem Reporter to Zachary Laux, a U.S. Postal Service communications specialist. 

Laux told Salem Reporter in an email that the Postal Service has the right in all instances to issue 120 day written termination notices to their contracted retailers. 

“In the case of the Salem Mail Depot … and the Postman … the Postal Service determined that nearby facilities are able to serve the community,” Laux said. 

Laux said the closest post office from the Mail Depot is two miles away at 3624 Commercial St. S.E., and the closest one from the Postman is five miles away at 1050 Sunnyview Road N.E. 

According to the notice the Mail Depot’s contract will terminate entirely at the close of business on Sept. 30. 

Representatives of the Postman confirmed to Salem Reporter that the business received a termination notice but declined to comment further on the matter. 

Langford posted an online petition to save his 37-year-old business. He said if the cancellation goes through, he might have to close and lay off the six employees unless he can figure out a way to pivot toward other revenue sources. 

Under its contract with the Postal Service, the Mail Depot makes money on commission, earning 24% of its sales. It is prohibited under its contract to provide other services that would compete with services provided by the Postal Service, Langford said. 

Ending the contract would cut 75 to 80% of the business’s revenue, he said.

“Because they bind you by their contract to not do other things that you could do…they are basically shutting down” contracted mail businesses, Langford said. 

Langford said based on what he knows so far, contracts with businesses like his own are being canceled nationwide. 

In Erie, Pennsylvania, residents are signing a petition to save the town’s Pony Express, a mail service company, which received a similar notice from the Postal Service. 

On Tuesday customers walked in and out of the Mail Depot at a solid clip. Some dropped off mail and packages while others checked their boxes, or stopped in the quaint gift shop that serves the businesses’ clientele.

Matt Corti-Young was dropping off some packages at Mail Depot on Tuesday, something he does every day as part of a business he runs with his wife.  

“It would be really sad to see it go. If that is something we could avoid that would be great,” Corti-Young said. “We’ve only lived in Salem a year, and ever since we got here, we found the Mail Depot. It’s super convenient. And on certain days you can get a cookie on the way out as well, which is super nice. It’s a great spot.” 

As far as he can tell, the Mail Depot gets a lot of use from customers in the area, Corti-Young said. 

“There’s never a day where I’m not holding the door open for somebody or letting somebody in and out behind me,” Corti-Young said. 

Langford said the Mail Depot processes between 500 and 700 pieces of mail a day during the busier times of the year, and that shutting down businesses like his will likely reduce the quality of mail service in Salem. 

The U.S. Postal Service is among the agencies where the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency pursued aggressive cost-cutting measures. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy planned to cut 10,000 workers and billions of dollars from the U.S. Postal Service’s budget, the Associated Press reported. Critics of the move said cutting from the U.S. Postal Service will significantly impact the country’s mail system. 

“It is just crazy that they are willing to burn all of these bridges, and for what? We have no idea. I cannot understand the reason why they would want to do this,” Langford said. “All it will do is overload the postal system and the postal offices and they will have to pay more for people to come in and do the work there.” 

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.

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