On Thursday, August 1, Richland Grant Telephone Company will open the 16th Village Post Office (VPO) in the state of Wisconsin.

The new postal center will be officially opened by Office Manager Lori Thomas from the telephone company and Post Office Operations Manager Sue Janczak.  The grand opening will be held at the Richland Grant Telephone Company at 202 N. East St. starting at 1 p.m.

“We’re one of the major businesses in town and wanted to have extra customer service for our customers,” said Thomas, who’s been working with the telephone company for 17 years.  “A lot of them pay their bills here, so now they’ll be able to buy stamps. We’re looking forward to it.”

With is current lineup of local, long distance, high-speed internet and digital TV services, this is just another way to offer customers more communication options, Thomas explained.

Richland Grant Telephone Company will provide Forever stamp sales, but also Priority Flat-Rate boxes, pre-paid package drop-off and blue collection box pickup service.

The Richland Grant Telephone Company is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.  The blue collection box located in the front of the building will be picked up Monday – Saturday at 1 p.m. For more information about the Village Post Office concept is available at www.usps.com/villagepostoffice.

The Postal Service introduced the VPO model as an alternate retail location for postal products and services, especially in rural communities. VPOs are operated by local businesses contracting with the Postal Service, and offer a range of popular postal products and services including stamps and flat-rate packaging. Since 2011 when the program began, more than 320 VPOs have opened throughout the country in gas stations, food marts and libraries.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.