By JOE JAROSZ
Northeast News
May 14, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Before the announcement of the official opening of the Village Post Office in the North-East Library, United States Postal Service officials joked there had already been two complaints filed.

One of the complaints was quickly fixed as a package was delivered to the man waiting for the announcement to begin.

“We want our customers to be happy,” Drew Aliperto, vice president of area operations for the USPS, said.

About 40 people attended the official opening at the library, 6000 Wilson Road, on Tuesday, May 6. A Village Post Office, or VPO, is not a traditional, community post office. A VPO is a partnership with the USPS as an authorized postal provider, with limited postal services. The VPO supplies space for Post Office boxes and a priority mail display case while also selling stamp booklets. During the announcement, officials claims that all of the P.O. boxes at the library were already full.

“We’ll work to include more [P.O.] boxes,” Aliperto said.

The opening of the North-East Library VPO is number 601 for the USPS. Number 600 opened just hours before at the Lucile H. Bluford Library, 3050 Prospect Ave. Joel Jones, the director of branch and outreach services for the Kansas City Public Library, said he was excited to open another VPO in the “heart and soul” of the Historic Northeast.

“Over the past decade, the North-East branch has expanded from a traditional library into a community hub,” Jones said. “When the Post Office came to us with the idea of including a Village Post Office, I thought it would be a perfect fit at this library.”

Daniel Sharitz, marketing manager for the Kansas City, Mo., post office, said the opening of the VPO does not mean any changes have been made to the Post Office at 105 N. Hardesty Ave.

“That location is still being evaluated,” Sharitz said. In October 2013, the location had its services cut to just two hours a day during the week, with no weekend service.

With officials declaring all the P.O. boxes rented at the library, Sharitz said there’s absolutely a chance for expansion and the addition of more boxes to be added.

“When you do a Village Post Office, you don’t know the reception until after it has opened,” Sharitz said. “But to hear the boxes are already full is amazing. It’s obvious this is something the neighborhood wants.”

Although maintained by the USPS, the VPO will be operated by library staff. Branch manager Claudia Visnich said the staff has completed the necessary training to operate the VPO. She said the staff plan to complete more training after some time and experience operating the VPO.

“I’m sure we’ll think of a few questions we didn’t ask before,” Visnich said.

As for what the library staff thinks about the addition, Visnich said everyone is excited, especially those who still use the services provided by the Post Office.

“Everyone thinks it’s great, especially that they can come in on Sunday or late in the evening during the week for services,” Visnich said.

The North-East Library’s hours of operation will also be the VPO’s hours of operation. The library is currently open seven-days-a-week from 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday – Thursday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturday and 1 – 5 p.m. on Sunday.