Eden Mills PO Closed
by Alicia Morissette

EDEN MILLS - On Wednesday, December 29, the Eden Mills Post Office
located in Clute's Market closed. Tom Clutier, the owner of Clute's
Market, closed his doors on Friday, December 31, for renovations, and
consequently, the Eden Mills Post Office closed with it.
The Eden Mills Post Office was a full service contract station, which
means that it sold stamps, handled mail and completed all of the other
duties a post office can perform. It was operating out of Clute's Market
due to a contract between Clutier and The United States Postal Service
(USPS).
James Adams, the district manager of Customer Service for New Hampshire
and Vermont, commented about the reason the Eden Mills Post Office
closed. Quite simply, the contract was not renewed. When asked if the
contract will be renewed in the future, Adams was unable to comment.
Adams was able to say that the Eden Mills Post Office had the same zip
code as Eden, and "all services performed by the contract station were
moved to the Eden Post Office" located near the Eden General Store
approximately a mile away from Clute's Market. A letter was sent to all
postal patrons of the Eden Mills Post Office outlining this information.
When asked if it was a policy for the United States Postal Service
(USPS) to terminate contracts with small stations, Adams stated there is
"constant turnover with small contract stations," but the USPS "preferrs
to have small stations so we can give more services to our customers".
Adams also commented that the USPS will be advertising for a new
contract station in approximately 30 days. Until then, Eden residents
will only have the Eden Post Office available to them.
CORRECTION after publication: The Eden Mills Post Office did have its
own zip code.