The McNeil Post office is a small post office located inside the Austin White Lime Company Store in McNeil, Texas.
Inside you won't find a fancy stamp machine or long lines.
You will find Christina Childers, the lone postmaster who knows the names of most of her customers and likes it when costumers know her name too.
"It makes me feel important," Childers said.
Bridgette Massey is the Austin White Lime Company Store clerk. She said she doesn't get much business from post office customers but would hate to see them go.
"They're more my friends than my customers," Massey said.
Like an old friend, Karen Thompson will go out of her way to visit the McNeil Post Office.
"I would drive several miles and still do out of the way if I could
come here," Thompson said.
Thompson's trips may soon come to an end.
In a letter dated August 5, 2008, United States Postal Service District Manager Manny Arguello wrote "we have determined that it is in the best interest of our customers and the USPS to seriously consider reallocating these resources to provide a more efficient and effective retail and Post Office Box operation for our customers at a newer, modern facility."
The planned new facility would be located six miles away at Davis Springs.
USPS Spokesperson James Coultress said nothing is final.
"The McNeil Post Office is not currently scheduled for closure and any subsequent decisions will follow processes and will remain sensitive to the citizens," Coultress said.
Still, customers like Jim Donohue are already preparing to fight.
Donohue has collected more than 260 signatures of customers who are against any plans to close the post office.
"This post office has been here a century and I'm sure when
it was created a century ago it provided the same level of service
and good fortune and neighborliness as it does today," Donohue said.
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Old time mail
The McNeil Post office is a small town service that might soon be no more.
 
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Thompson signed the petition. She said she hopes her signature isn't ignored.
"None of those people that have decided that this should be closed have ever been here or think about what this post office represents," Thompson said.
What it represents, Thompson said, is a way of life she is prepared to go out of her way to protect.
