How badly will Post Office Closures in rural areas affect AT Hikers?

[Comet Omega]

Saw that the USPS is closing a bunch of Post Offices and mostly rural ones. This will affect a lot of hikers, but how badly and what happens to mail drops sent during closures?

http://news.yahoo.com/post-office-lo...002241371.html

[emerald]

A thread discussing Glencliff, New Hampshire's post office closure was started several weeks ago. Searches turn up nothing for me. Maybe someone else can find it.

Does anyone know of others near the A.T. scheduled for closure?

[Jeff]

Somehow hikers will still be able to a enjoy a successful thruhike. Hostels, outfitters and other trailside businesses will fill the void.

[SGT Rock]

I just saw that Fontana Dam post office is on the list. Bad news for hikers for sure:

http://about.usps.com/news/electroni...thcarolina.htm

[WingedMonkey]

I think that one of the effects will be that motels, hostels and outfitters that already charge for package holding will charge more, and those that haven't before will start charging. So add the higher cost of postage and the hold charge and it adds up to more expense for hikers.

[WalkinHome]

They say that some of the closed PO's might end up being contracted out to a local store and such. In the end, some could actually be better for hikers as they would likely have more flexible hours of being open.

[SGT Rock]

I've checked about the Fontana PO, looks like they plan to go WalkinHome's route. The store will still accept packages mailed there, and that is a good thing since they are opened more hours and days than the PO was.