Post-office closure list shortened; rural offices still not on it, but postmasters have arguments ready

We noted last month that the U.S. Postal Service sent the Postal Regulatory Commission a list of 700 urban post offices it planned to close or consolidate. Some feared the list could be expanded to include rural post offices, partly because some rural posts in the United Kingdom are being closed, but those fears appear to have been averted. The Washington Post reports the Postal Service has revised the list, but only shortened it. (Read more)

In his Morning Meeting column for the Poynter Institute, Al Tompkins, who grew up in rural Western Kentucky, plays devil's advocate and asks: Why not close smaller rural offices? He links to a February position paper of the National League of Postmasters saying rural post offices should be kept open because rural Americans aren't "second-class citizens." (Read more)

"Rural post offices are the backbone of rural America and are an integral part of the social, political, and economic fabric of small towns. They are the glue that holds the nation's rural communities together. If a rural post office disappears, the town often disappears," the league writes. "An attack on rural post offices is an attack on rural America, as most rural citizens and all rural congressmen know well." (Read more)