CLINTON — As part of the United States Postal Service’s wide-reaching effort to reduce operating costs, mail service for several area cities is getting an overhaul.

Post offices in Clinton, Camanche, Thomson, Ill., and Fulton, Ill., will consolidate route operations into a “hub office” located in Clinton. While the retail and P.O. box aspects of all post office branches will remain operational, mail will now be routed through Clinton. Rural carriers will be solely responsible for delivering mail to homes and businesses in Fulton, Camanche and Thomson. The changes will take effect towards the end of August.

“It’s, of course, to save money,” Lori Callahan, Clinton postmaster said. “Not unlike any other business, when you bring your operations together... (you) save some money.”

She deferred further questioning to USPS media representatives.

Clinton, Fulton, Camanche and Thomson are not the only area cities affected by this program. A representative from the USPS confirmed that Morrison, Ill., will become a hub city for Prophetstown, Ill. As with the other non-hub cities, retail and P.O. box service in Prophetstown will remain operational for the time being.

Post office amalgamations like these stem from a program called Delivery Unit Optimization that the post office utilizes to reduce costs at smaller or rural locations. According to the DUO guidebook, published by the USPS to assist communities in making the transition, the goal of the program is to create “long-term savings without interruption to existing services.” The guidebook implies that centralizing many operations in applicable markets is a more fiscally responsible way to function and maintain the same level of service.

But savings may not necessarily be in the short or long-term future, according to Keva Richardson of the Iowa branch of the National Association of Postmasters. Richardson, a retired postmaster, works with several small communities across Iowa and Illinois that are facing potential post office closures. She said that the USPS has either been unable or unwilling to offer proof as to how the program actually saves on operating costs.

“I don’t know that anyone has ever seen a cost-benefit analysis for this,” Richardson said. “We have heard nothing about the savings.”

Callahan mentioned that savings could come in the form of utility or overhead costs, but Richardson said that the only potential savings she could foresee would come from lowering the status of the non-hub post office, which would eventually reduce the salary of that branch’s postmaster.

“After they move the carriers out, it would be simpler to close the office eventually,” Richardson added.

She also theorized that utilizing the DUO program could also decrease the efficiency of mail delivery, and as a result, affect business operations throughout the involved communities. She said that since mail delivery would be completely dependent on rural carriers, delivery times could be much later in the day. For outgoing mail, pickup would also have to be at the carriers’ discretion. This means that written correspondence times could increase by up to a day, as carriers may be unable to stay in the city for long periods of time.

Dennis McLaughlin, a media representative for the USPS, said that in the areas where the DUO program has been utilized, the effect felt by customers has been minimal.

“It’s not had a big impact on the ones we’ve done earlier,” McLaughlin said, adding that the biggest inconvenience is a half hour or so difference in mail delivery time. “(DUO post offices) are more economical. That’s why we do them.”

McLaughlin said that the USPS is in major trouble financially, and steps like this help recoup some of the $23 million the service is losing daily. He said that by limiting truck traffic on the rural routes, the USPS saves on gas costs. He confirmed that the lower classification that will be imposed upon the rural post offices will allow for a reduction in salary of area postmasters.