Postal Service consolidating routes in rural areas

Facing effective bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service is consolidating mail routes and angering rural residents. In Oconomowoc, West Bend, Oak Creek and elsewhere in Wisconsin, the recent combination of routes has residents complaining that mail is being delivered late and that they feel neglected, Scott Williams reports for the Journal Sentinel in Milwaukee. Williams reports that in Waukesha, business owners fear that cutbacks in mail collection hours will undermine their ability to conduct business.

Postal officials say the consolidation of delivery sites will save about $46,000 a year in each location and a total of $1.5 million in the 30 rural communities already affected. Mail often comes later in the day. U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Menomonee Falls, told Williams he does not have an alternative plan for trimming costs, but he found that the cuts in southeastern Wisconsin will be too disruptive to customers. "You've got to remind the Postal Service repeatedly that their last name is service," he said. (Read more).