New Village Post Office opens in Miss.

Mississippi has become the latest test site for the United States Postal Service's new business model in an attempt to help shave costs and stop the federal agency from hemorrhaging funds.

The model, Village Post Office, is one that partners with existing businesses in rural areas to offer USPS services, and Mississippi's first one is in a grocery store in the Monroe County's Prairie community.

"I think it's going to be kind of two-fold," said Barry Smitherman, owner of Knox Grocery, where the VPO opened Wednesday. "It's going to bring in more people through the door, and it's going to provide a service to the community."

The new service opened Wednesday.

The store's employees will handle the sale of items such as stamps and flat-rate shipping boxes, said Smitherman. There are also plans to have post office boxes set up outside the store where customers can rent space.

"I don't know why any business in the state doesn't want one of these," he said. "It serves your customers and the community."

Smitherman said the existing post office in Prairie lies about 8 miles from his store, but since the office's hours were slashed to four hours per day – 7-11 a.m. Monday through Friday – it was no longer convenient for residents.

"Most working people aren't able to use it," he said.

While USPS hasn't announced plans for another Mississippi VPO just yet, the agency has been pushing the model in several states over the last two years. By the end of fiscal 2013, there were 385 in the country, with nearly half of those established in Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

"We will continue to seek out additional suitable locations for VPOs in Mississippi and nationwide," said USPS spokeswoman Enola Rice.

The idea behind a VPO isn't new to the post office, though the agency opened its first one in Michigan in 2011. But the notion of dropping off packages at local stores to be picked up by a postal carrier has been around since the office's inception.

"As it turns out, that's how the post office originated," said Smitherman. "And they're having to go back to that, because the Internet is killing them."

In November, USPS reported roughly $5 billion in losses from fiscal 2013, down from the nearly $16 billion recorded the previous year.

These shortfalls have resulted in post office closures around the country and the reduction of hours in thousands more, including the one serving the Prairie community.

Before the local post office's hours were cut, Smitherman said, USPS officials held a meeting with the community.

At that meeting he saw a VPO brochure and inquired about opening one in his store.

A year and half later, Smitherman said he was contacted about doing just that.

"I'm proud to be the first in Mississippi," he said. "But I'm equally proud that we're the first community in the state to have one.

Contact Dustin Barnes at dbarnes2@gannett.com or (601) 360-4644. Follow @DustinCL on Twitter.

By the numbers

USPS losses

• Fiscal 2013: $5 billion

• Fiscal 2012: $15.9 billion

• Fiscal 2011: $5.1 billion

• Fiscal 2010: $8.5 billion

• Fiscal 2009: $3.8 billion