LULA, Miss.–Mississippi has four VPOs so far, and more are on the way. One opened in Perkinston last week and another is set to open soon in Vardaman. If you’re wondering what a “VPO” is, it’s the short name for Village Post Office, and it’s a new concept being introduced in Mississippi by the Postal Service.
The story of the first Village Post Office in the Delta is actually the story of people in the Delta.
Welcome to Jordan’s Quik Stop, Lula, Miss. There’s probably one like it where you live. It’s a place to have lunch and find out what’s going on around town. You can get potato wedges, Chester Fired Chicken, a cold beer and now you can get a stamp or mail a package and it’s the same people who sell you Cokes and chips.
“Six o’clock in the morning to ten at night. Most post offices that I know of do not have hours like that,” said Jimmy Adams, district manager at Jordans. “They didn’t have anything before here. One guy was telling me they had to drive 20 miles out of the way.”
The Village Post Offices are designed to get mail service into more rural places, and you can’t get much more rural than Lula. It’s the last stop on Hwy. 49 before you get to the Mississippi River bridge at Helena, Arkansas. Tunica is the closest post office.
The post office isn’t doing so hot financially. News Mississippi asked Adrienne Marshall, with the Post Office, if this concept has anything to do with that.
“It’s totally separate from financial troubles,” she said. “It’s just a way for us to have a presence in the community.”
There’s no building required for the Postal Service to put up since the stamps and package material are sold right over the store counter, so it’ll probably build out pretty quick wherever they are going in. So look out Long Beach and Vardaman. You’re next to get a VPO.
For more info on the Village Post Office, you can e-mail DistrictRetail@usps.gov or log on to www.usps.com .
