Closing shop

Soon there’ll be one less place to conduct post office business

With abbreviated hours of operation and other cutbacks at local post offices, it’s becoming more and more difficult to conduct regular U.S. Postal Service business.

The decision by Paul Aber, owner of Aber’s Hallmark, to conclude the store’s run as a contract postal unit means one less place to buy a book of stamps, mail a letter, or send a package.

Aber is ending the contract for business reasons, with Oct. 20 slated as the final day at the greeting card and gift shop at Baltimore and South Centre streets.

Signs in the store alert customers to the change, directing them to CVS Pharmacy if they need stamps after that date.

PharmaCare, 11306 Bedford Road, will continue its current contract postal unit agreement, but the loss of Aber’s in that capacity still constitutes a blow to Cumberland.

Six months ago, spokeswoman Freda Sauter told the Times-News the Postal Service faces significant challenges, hit hard by fuel costs and shrinking mail volume. The recession obviously has played a major role in revenue loss, but it seems to us that curtailing service will only make things worse.

Perhaps another downtown business will sign on as a post office outpost in the future. Such a move would surely earn our stamp of approval.