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SACRAMENTO-

United States postal workers aren’t happy about postal counters being opened at Staples stores across the nation.

Thursday, a group protested outside the Natomas Staples location to let shoppers know what’s going on and why they don’t like it.

Currently, the U.S. Postal Service and Staples are in a pilot test program at 81 different stores to see if shoppers like having more places to mail their letters and packages. Postal workers are worried this is a slippery slope.

“Our concern is they are going to ruin the Postal Service for for the American public and that they are going to be closing post offices because they are going to be moving the services to Staples,” postal worker Chuck Locke said.

They also believe it’s not in the best interest of the shoppers, because they say mail dropped off at Staples won’t be protected by federal law.

“Once you put the mail in the Postal Service, it’s a federal offense to steal mail, to violate mail or open mail inside of a postal facility. Here, it’s not a federal violation. Employees that work here only have to report to their Staples manager,” Locke said.

Union workers hope to educate the public into pressuring the USPS to back off this program before it has a chance to spread from the pilot program to 1,500 stores nationwide. Shoppers FOX40 spoke with weren’t convinced.

“I feel sorry for the people who work at the post office but at the same time, convenience is all we are about today,” said Tony Romano, staples shopper.

The USPS says it is not planning on laying off any employees or closing any post offices because of this partnership. In fact, officials hope it increases business so they can hire more employees and improve service.

Staples issued a statement about the program: “They continually test new products and services to better meet the needs of our customers. We are currently operating a pilot program in select stores that is testing specific services and offering added convenience to our customers. As a matter of policy we do not provide details on our pilot programs or on the agreements with our venders.”