Officials say post office move will improve service

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Regional and local officials for the United States Postal Service say the relocation of the Milpas Station Post Office to the East Beach Station, located less than a mile away, will improve parking and service for customers.
“We have been working on the project for quite a bit and it’s finally going to happen and we are excited for relocating,” said Turi Engler, the officer in charge of nine Santa Barbara Post Offices.

The first day of business at the East Beach location, which is located at 107 Nopalitas Way, is Monday, Nov. 19. Engler said it will be renamed the Milpas Station Post Office.
If there are any downsides to the relocation, its tough find anybody who will admit to them.
Because the post office is located next to the Milpas Street roundabout, which is also next to the on and off ramps of Highway 101, the area is heavily congested. Engler said the new location will provide much needed traffic relief to customers.
“I’m a customer too,” Engler said. “I really think that I would not want to go in there and do my business unless I have to. That’s the feeling I get and I think it’s going to be better.”
Tom Soda, who lives near the Milpas location and remembers when the post office began renting the building in 1958, said he’s always thought it was a poor spot for a post office.
“It’s pretty dangerous,” Soda said of entering and exiting the post office’s parking lot. “I’ve always wished it was located somewhere else. Traffic is going to increase over time, so eventually they’ll have to do something so why not do it now.”
Engler said customers will also be better served by having a letter carrier facility, which is what the East Beach location is, and a retail, P.O. box facility like Milpas, combined as one.
She said one instance where the separation of the two facilities is problematic is when a package is too large to be delivered.
Currently, she said the letter carrier leaves a note in the person’s mailbox that tells them they can pick up the package at the Milpas location. But because the letter carrier returns to the East Beach facility, Engler said the package doesn’t get delivered to Milpas until the next morning, which often prevents customers from receiving their packages in a timely manner.
“Now you’ll be able to do all of that at the same location,” she said.
The switch won’t inconvenience P.O. box holders either.
Rich Maher, a spokesman for the post office, said all of the P.O. box numbers will remain the same, as will the zip code for those users.
On the financial side, Maher said the move makes sense because the post office leases the Milpas building but owns the East Beach building, which it built in 1998.
“It’s going to be good for the community because it’s going to be a brand new building with a presentable retail unit and safer for customers to go in and out of the parking lot,” Engler said. “We’ve been there for quite a while and it’s time to get a new look for the post office.”
The last day of business at the Milpas Street Post Office, which is located at 18 S. Milpas St., is Friday, Nov. 16.
Maher said P.O. Box holders have been notified and announcements have been posted.