The Bishop Postal Service will combine delivery operations currently housed at the Bishop Post Office with the Kingsville Post Office by the end of July.

“The consolidation of our carrier operations will result in less overhead and administrative costs,” Robert Bolen, USPS spokesperson said Tuesday.

“The move of carrier operations will be seamless to our customers,” he said.

Bolen said Bishop customers with “left notice” items would continue to pick these up at the Bishop Post Office.

The Bishop Post Office’s retail and post office box services will remain.

This Bishop Post Office employs five carriers, one clerk, and postmaster Janie Marrero.

“Our carriers will work out of the Kingsville office completely, and the clerk and myself will continue to stay at the office in Bishop,” Marrero said.

This comes as the Postal Service has been affected by the national economic crisis, as well as the big shift of traditional mail volume to electronic commerce.

According to Bolen, the USPS’s mail volume has plummeted by more than 25.6 billion pieces, or 12.7 percent, in one fiscal year, with total mail volume standing at 177 billion pieces.

“Due to the advances in mail processing technology coupled with declining mail volume, the Postal Service has been reevaluating and consolidating mail processing and delivery operations nationwide,” he said.

This is the second consolidation in the area in recent times, as the San Diego post office recently consolidated with the Alice post office as a way to cut down costs.

“These consolidations create opportunities for the Postal Service to save money on overhead and administrative costs such as clerical and administrative staffing, utilities, and transportation of mail from the mail processing plant to the delivery units,” said Bolen.

Bolen said that services would continue to be provided at the highest quality and there should be no obvious delay in mail delivery time.

“Despite our challenging financial picture, the Postal Service continues to provide high levels of service to our customers. Costs have been cut; service has not,” he said. “ Employees across the entire organization have contributed to major cost reductions over the past two years, while making sure service does not suffer.”

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes.

The Postal Service receives no direct support from taxpayers.

With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses.