Inspectors seize the stamps and postage meter in the shop, which was allegedly operating outside the requirements of an agreement with the Postal Service.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published May 31, 2003
EAST LAKE - Wayne Mandat came to work Tuesday morning and found U.S. postal inspectors swarming around the front and back doors of his card and gift shop on Sandy Point Road.
They were there minutes before 9 a.m. and told customers waiting outside that they should go somewhere else if they needed to buy stamps or send packages.
As Mandat watched customers leave, he thought to himself, "They can't wait two minutes until we open?"
Postal inspectors were there to close Mandat's contract postal substation for failing to live up to the requirements of his operating agreement with the U.S. Postal Service. Inspectors left with all of his stamps and postage meter. Now Fanfare Cards and Gifts sells only cards and gifts.
"They said the facility is closed for a postal service audit," said Mandat, 58, who has been operating the substation for four years with his wife, Cindy. "And then they took all the stamps, our postage meter and our equipment and put us out of business. We've been audited many times. The thing is: Why did they take everything out of here?"
They took everything because the substation was officially closed down, said Gary Sawtelle, spokesman for the Postal Service's Suncoast district.
The Postal Service's "contract postal units" are small, privately run satellite operations that offer stamps, certified mail and overnight shipping. The government allows businesses to become contract postal units to alleviate traffic at the post office. For participating businesses, the benefit is increased traffic, some of which translates into additional sales.
But there are rules to follow, and that's where postal officials say Mandat ran afoul of the program.
Sawtelle said Mandat did not comply with certain contractual obligations, including being open 8:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. on Saturdays and upgrading his postage meter.
"There were several Saturdays where he did not open," Sawtelle said. "The other is the meter, which was a requirement. I'm not aware of the reason why that requirement was not met. It's not just a meter. It has a lot to do with the finances of our office."
Mandat said there were a few Saturdays when he wasn't open. He said oftentimes the summer is slow because the snowbirds are back up North.
He said he was more than willing to get a new meter, but he already had a lease with Pitney-Bowes for his current meter and two other pieces of postal equipment. That lease was set to expire in December 2005.
In a May 12 letter, Mandat was told "if this contractual postal unit is not in compliance . . . this contract may be terminated with a one-day notice," Sawtelle said.
"We have a very strict process that we follow anytime we have any type of closure of one of our post offices or a contract post office," he said. "It's no light matter in our view, and so we go by the numbers, including notification, which we followed."
Sawtelle said Mandat received several letters warning him. Mandat said he told officials he was going to be closed on a few Saturdays and no one said anything.
The 1,000-square-foot shop sells cards and gifts at the front of the store. But there's not enough revenue from those items to survive financially, Mandat said.
"I guess what I'm going to do is contact Fed Ex and some of the other shipping companies and see if I can do something with another packaging company," he said.
Sawtelle said Mandat can appeal the decision.
In the meantime, another substation is coming to East Lake. The new substation is scheduled to open Wednesday in the Mobil on the Run gas station, 4840 Ridgemoor Blvd., at the Brooker Creek Publix shopping center.
"When we went after our postal unit, we did not know they were going to close him or considering closing him," said Ron Charara, who owns Mobil on the Run with his brother Hass. "The post office people figured there was enough business for both of us to survive."
Charara said opening the post office substation has been in the works for six months.
"Basically we did it for traffic buildup to make our place a destination for the community," Charara said. "We figure someone will come in, buy gas, buy milk, and if they know that they can drop mail, it just becomes more of a destination point."
Don Flynn, chairman of East Lake 20/20, said he was shocked when he went to the Mandats' substation and found it closed.
"I've been coming to that substation for many years, and they have always been very pleasant and accommodating," Flynn said. "It doesn't seem fair."
