Village Postal Substation Service Update
After 40 years of service, the Village will stop operating as a postal substation and will move to a stamps-to-go service effective close of business on November 22. The decision to transition to a stamps-to-go service was initiated by the US Postal Service (USPS) after they re-evaluated their contractual relationship with the Village in hopes of minimizing the risk/liabilities of our operation. As of late, the Village has been facing challenges with providing quality postal services to residents; we are not connected to USPS servers, so it prevents staff from tracking packages and accepting credit/debit transactions. Additionally, the USPS has discontinued tracking stickers utilized by Village staff and moved toward a modern tracking system, which the Village has no access to.
The stamps-to-go service will be a user-friendly option for residents to purchase stamps because it allows the Village to now accept credit/debit cards instead of only accepting cash and check. A majority of postal transactions were purchasing stamps, so the Village is pleased to be able to continue offering this service to our residents. With transitioning to a stamps-to-go service, the Lake Villa Post Office will absorb the PO boxes within Village Hall. Village staff is actively working with Lake Villa Post Office staff to coordinate messaging to ensure a smooth transition for all PO box users.
Discussion regarding the direction of Village provided postal services was part of the agenda at the June 12th and the July 24th Board Meeting.