For weeks, arumor swirled in Wynnewood that thelocal post office may be shuttering due to a leasing dispute between the U.S. Postal Service and Federal Realty Investment Trust, the owner of the shopping center where the post office is located.
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Now, Federal Realty says it is “finalizing an agreement to extend the current lease” of the post office and anticipates “no disruption to services.”
“The Wynnewood Post Office is a valued tenant, and we appreciate the important role they play in serving the community,” a spokesperson for Federal Realty said in a statement.
The Wynnewood Post Office primarily serves residents in the 19096 zip code, which encompasses parts of Penn Wynne, Wynnewood, and Penn Valley in Lower Merion. The post office provides a variety of mailing services, including international mailing, money orders, mail holds, and burial flags for deceased veterans. Some functions of the Wynnewood Post Office moved to nearby Havertown in 2009, namely mail processing and sorting for mail carrier pickup.
The U.S. Postal Service did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Last month, patronsof the Wynnewood Post Office began hearing from postal workers that the location may closing at the end of October after USPS and Federal Realty, the owner of the Wynnewood Shopping Center, were unable to reach an agreement over the terms of the post office’s lease.
Without the Wynnewood Post Office, residents would have to use neighboring post offices for services like mailing packages and accessing P.O. boxes. While other post offices aren’t far — Narberth’s post office is about a mile up the road from Wynnewood, and Merion Station’s is about 1.5 miles away — locals have said the Wynnewood location is critical for older adults and residents who value its convenience and easy access.
Vince Tarducci, regional coordinator for the American Postal Workers Union, said in an email, “If there is no disruption in services to the People’s Post Office, we all win,” noting that the postal service, which turns 251 on July 26, is older than the United States itself.
“Maintaining postal services in Wynnewood will allow people, especially our elderly, not to have to travel further from their residences to handle their business whether personal or work related,” Tarducci added.
Federal Realty declined to say how much the post office’s rent would be raised under the new lease terms.
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“It’s great news that Federal Realty is speaking positively about renewing the lease for the Wynnewood Post Office,” Paul Gottleib, vice president of the Shortridge Civic Association, one of the neighborhood groups associated with the 19106 zip code, said in an email.
The civic associations that represent the zip code will be “relieved and comforted knowing that the public resources available in the neighborhood will remain here for the foreseeable future,” Gottleib said.
Gottleib was among a group of residents and civic association representatives rallying to keep the post office open, including spurring a campaign of calls to U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon’s office.
USPS is facing a financial cliff as costs rise and Americans send less mail. Customer visits to post offices across the country fell by more than half between 2000 and 2025, and walk-in stamp revenue, which once generated over $9 billion annually, decreased by two-thirds, the USPS Office of Inspector General. USPS was on track to run out of money next year, but was recently able to stave off a crisis until the early 2030s after pausing payments to worker retirement funds.
The Postal Service leases around 25,000 facilities throughout the country, nearly triple the 8,500 locations it owns. Leasing post offices leaves USPS vulnerable to leasing disagreements with property owners and, sometimes, post office closures.
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This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
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