Central post office

For nearly a year, postal patrons in Cape Girardeau have been buying stamps and mailing packages at a temporary U.S. Postal Service facility in rented space on Christine Street. The biggest complaint about this location has been limited parking and getting in and out of the parking lot.

Sound familiar? That was pretty much the same complaint often heard at the main post office.

Now postal workers are in the busiest season of the year, and more temporary arrangements have been made to accommodate carriers at a mail-sorting facility on Enterprise Drive.

This is a good time to think about a permanent solution that might include a centrally located post office once all the temporary facilities are abandoned.

The main post office on Frederick Street in downtown Cape Girardeau has been empty since early this year because of a leaking roof. It's possible postal workers will return to that facility once everyone agrees the building is waterproof.

But the Frederick Street location is no longer central to the city, which has moved west and north with the development of major shopping areas and large residential subdivisions. A second postal facility near Kingshighway would accommodate a large number of residents who find it inconvenient to drive downtown.

This is what city and chamber officials have suggested: a central location for some sort of mail facility that could handle postal patrons -- in addition to the main post office.

With the postal service's operations in such a state of flux, this is the best time to consider such an option. A second post office would not only be convenient, it would reduce some of the customer traffic at the main post office that often resulted in waiting -- for a long time -- for your number to be called.