25 years ago: KU Postal Service substation to be closed in August

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 7, 1989:

Lawrence Postmaster William Reynolds announced today that the U.S. Postal Service was planning to close the Kansas University campus substation. Reynolds said that federal budget constraints were forcing postal officials to abandon the Strong Hall substation by August 4. Campus mail would continue to go through, Reynolds explained, but letters and packages would be handled differently. “The level of service up there exceeds what was designed for a college campus,” he said. “We have to be consistent with other universities.” Negotiations were under way to establish a “contract station” in the Kansas Union, which would offer retail services but not post office boxes. The existing substation in Strong Hall had 325 box customers, who had been sent letters today explaining the change. Box renters had a choice of taking delivery at an off-campus box or at home. The Postal Service would continue delivering correctly addressed mail daily to one point in each campus building for sorting by a KU employee. All incompletely addressed mail would be forwarded to Campus Mail, which was planning to move into the area of Strong Hall occupied by the substation, and would be handled through the existing campus mail system. Reynolds said Kansas State University, Wichita State University, and the University of Missouri had operated for years under the system that was to be implemented at KU and he couldn’t explain why KU’s service hadn’t been altered earlier. “This University of Kansas is one of our best customers, certainly the largest,” he said. “We hope we can provide the same services, but in a more efficient and consistent manner.”