HOWLAND Post office to relocate as government station

The pharmacy that handled the postal station will no longer offer the service.
HOWLAND -- The new township government building, under construction next to the police station on Niles-Cortland Road, is being championed as the site of a contract postal station.
Township trustees authorized John Emanuel, township administrator, to negotiate with the U.S. Postal Service to bring the station to the government building, which is scheduled for completion in October.
Space for the contract postal station, which would include a counter and post office boxes, was factored into the new building's plans, Emanuel said Wednesday.
"We think it would be a big boon to the people of Howland," he said.
Stipulations: The postal service's terms for locating contract post offices, which are often inside businesses, vary widely. Sometimes rent is paid, other times the host gets a portion of transactions. Others in the township also could apply to run the contract station.
Emanuel said the township would need to hire an employee to run the station, and the township would probably have to subsidize its operation.
"It certainly won't be a money maker," he said.
Bahmer's Howland Pharmacy, which has hosted the township's contract post office for 30 or 40 years, recently gave the postal service 60 days notice of its intent to stop offering the service.
John Kalish, a pharmacy co-owner, said he is losing money and the rent the postal service pays isn't sufficient to pay the woman who handles the operation.
Kalish said the pharmacy would keep its contract station for a few additional months to allow a smooth transition to the new township building. "We are going to work with the community," he said.