USPS to close 2,000 mostly small or rural offices

Jennifer Levitz of The Wall Street Journal writes, "The U.S. Postal Service plays two roles in America: an agency that keeps rural areas linked to the rest of the nation, and one that loses a lot of money." So it is moving ahead with its plan to close 2,000 mostly small, rural post offices in an effort to save $500 million. (WSJ photo by Eli Meir Kaplan: Millville, W.Va., post office, which closed Friday, Jan. 21)

"After years of using a confusing and laborious 21-month process panned by customers and Congress as too secretive and inconsistent, the mail agency is now relying on a computerized system that enables officials to review and determine a location's fate in no more than five months," Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post reports. "If plans succeed, the Postal Service could halve its infrastructure by 2020, officials said."

Levitz writes in a long story from Holmes Mill, Ky., a "no-stoplight town" that is about to lose its post office, "The news is crushing in many remote communities where the post office is often the heart of the town and the closest link to the rest of the country. Shuttering them, critics say, also puts an enormous burden on people, particularly on the elderly, who find it difficult to travel out of town." Joshua Brock of the Harlan Daily Enterprise writes, "The postal service claims they are helping to preserve the community’s identity by continuing the use of the Holmes Mill name and ZIP code in addresses." (Read more)

The Postal Service has scheduled 500 sites to be closed by June, which includes about 400 suspended operations because of weather or fire damage, environmental concerns or a lack of business. "Most of the sites haven't been operational in about a year, but some haven't operated in almost three decades, said Dean Granholm, vice president of delivery and post office operations," O'Keefe writes. The other 100 sites were among those on a 2009 list of branches considered for closing that was leaked to the media after it was prematurely shared with lawmakers.

"Some of those suspensions are being contested by the Postal Regulatory Commission, independent from the postal service and reporting to Congress, which is investigating whether the postal service has been illegally using reasons such as lease expirations to close small, underused branches," Levitz reports. "The agency has denied wrongdoing." The PRC is also considering a Postal Service request to end home delivery on Saturdays, which the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues has argued would have a disproportionate impact in rural areas.

"We have post offices out there that we have two customers, or three customers come in in an entire day," Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe told the Post. "Remember the Maytag repair man? He used to have the loneliest job in the world. We probably have about 5,000 postmasters that have the loneliest job in the world." Federal law prohibits the Postal Service from closing offices for economic reasons, so "Donahoe is targeting about 2,000 postal stations and branches - smaller, mostly leased sites often in skyscrapers or shopping plazas - that don't employ letter carriers," O'Keefe writes. Offices with fewer than five employees, that are open fewer than eight hours a day and are within 15 to 20 miles of a larger location are likely to close, O'Keefe reports. (Read more)