Kerry McKerracher picked up his mail at the Careywood, Idaho, post office on Wednesday. The U.S. Postal Service said it will close the tiny post office north of Athol, Idaho, along U.S. Highway 95 on March 31. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)

Carrie Bartelt greets each customer by name when they open the squeaky door to the modest post office in Careywood, an unincorporated community between Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint.

People know each other in this pastoral end of Bonner County. If they don’t, they get acquainted and chew the fat when they stop in to pick up their mail or ship a package. They chat about the weather, their March Madness brackets and rumors the county will close the dump site up the road.

“It’s the hub of what’s left of the community,” said Bartelt, who contracts with the U.S. Postal Service to operate as a postal retail unit.

Careywood has had a post office for more than 100 years, and it has been in the same building since 1933. But the days are numbered for this rural gathering spot. The Postal Service plans to shutter the post office at the end of the month, citing the cost of the contract and Idaho’s plans to someday widen U.S. Highway 95/Scott Maben, SR. More here.