Does anyone have the slightest guesstimate of what the US GOV pays to lease post office buildings in small rural areas? I am considering going in with dear old mom on an old family property from a side branch of the family tree that has a house, 4 acres, and the rural area's post office on it. It is in SE Mo., and the deal seems to be that the landowner leases the building in 5 year chunks to the PO. Anybody know about the range of cash that one could expect to receive from such a practice and/or if it would come close to paying for the mortgage payments on a loan in the vicinity of $15,000? Any help would be appreciated, even off-topic stuff - no telling what one of you guys might come up with worth reading!;) Also, any info on the red-tape one could expect to incur with such a thing and possible fallout of such a unlikely homesteader-government love affair would be onteresting to say the least.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), June 01, 2001

Answers

I have been told by P.O. folks that the property is owned. Thats why they always have to sell existing locations to offset overhead before moving to larger quarters. To make certain that this is the case , you can either check the USPS or GAO web sites or contact their offices via telephone.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), June 01, 2001.

The really small rural post offices are not always owned. A friend of mine in New York could have had one set up in her basement if she had wanted it, and they would have let her run it. She said it would have given her some income, I don't know how much. She didn't do it for fear it would take too much time from her homeschool. They have a lot required of them to teach in New York.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), June 01, 2001.

I know that some post offices are leased. Ususally built to their specifications. There in lies the problem, GSA sprcifications. After doing one contract with the General Service Adminstration and losing a ton of money I never even bid on another. They have a book that all contracts refer back to that a lawyer working full time would never figure out what the heck it means. As an indivudial forget even trying to deal with them. If you do I will say I told you so.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), June 01, 2001.

I have actually had a conversation with my mailman on this topic. It just so happens that he owns one of the post office buildings in our county. He had it built and they signed a 30 year lease with him. It's less than 10 years old and he told me he will pay off the mortgage to it next year just using the proceeds from the rent. I don't remember how much rent he's getting but it must be good. He was really encouraging us to get into commercial rentals.

-- Deena in GA (dsmj55@aol.com), June 01, 2001.

Would the current landowner discuss the details of his deal with you? Or could he help advise and set up the lease?

-- jennifer (schwabauer@aol.com), June 01, 2001.

I suspect your advantage would be in that the Post Office is already on the property, and thus likely mets standards; however, it would be something you would need to check out. Any improvements required to renew the lease may not be economically feasible.

I also suspect the Postal Service prefers to lease these is that they can be closed at the end of a lease with minimum cost to the Post Office. Many of these small offices are being consolidated with sometimes the only service provide is post office boxes, rather than rural delivery. If the lease fees from the Post Office is your primary reason for being interested in the property, then what happens if they don't renew?

When you see an address with either Star Route or HC (Hired Carrier) in it, that means the carrier had to bid on obtaining the route. They are contractors to the Postal Service, not employees.

The scenes in The Waltons where the post office was part of the local general store was very common. Old story is some guys broke into one of these, drew a caulk line around the postal area and wrote on the floor, "Postal Inspectors we did not cross this line." Had they, instead of it being a local crime, it would have become a federal crime. Your mailbox is, in theory, owned by the Postal Service. That is why stealing mail from them is a federal crime.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), June 02, 2001.

Now, this was in Australia, not the US, so use it as a guide at best, but ....

My Great-aunt (my mum's mum's sister - named Jessie James as it happens, but no relation to HIM) ran the local post-office in what was at the time a small village, but close to major towns. It was a small walled-off section on her front verandah, but as secure as any part of the building could be - locked doors and windows and so forth. Anyway, Auntie Jess made a living out of it, plus the whole village knew and loved her and she knew and loved the whole village, and their business. However, she only just made a living out of it, on the basis that she'd already paid for/owned the property. I'm talking 40-odd years ago now, and I suspect there was an element of our family having run the village PO for 60 years before that, and I know that the attitude of "if it's a reasonable cost, and we have no reason to look elsewhere, then just renew" doesn't apply anymore. Loyalty don't count, and don't get rewarded, no more (apologies for the grammar).

On the other hand, 4 acres is a good area for someone who's not hard- bodied and thick-headed to look after, Do the sums on how long and wide four acres can be, then imagine walking that with a hoe, and you'll probably realise that four acres is PLENTY to look after.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), June 02, 2001.

I know someone who owns a general store and a part of it is the post office I will see if I can get some info from him.I'll try to relay it back at this post in a day or 2.

-- SM Steve (a12goat@cs.com), June 03, 2001.

Thanks for the info, and keep it coming! The building is an old, old post office that serves close to a third of the county (the actual "town" itself may house 10 full-time residents in a good year) and there is no real feasible close-by mail-box PO. Doubt that the PO would close it, unless they want to drive the entire county to e-mail instead of stamps - most of the area's population are too old to get out and into the big town of Greenville (county seat, pop. about 400) to get their mail. Probably have a riot if they did, albeit a very slow-moving one!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), June 05, 2001.