3,700 post offices up for closure; state lists posted

The U. S. Postal Service announced today that 3,700 more of its retail locations, 12 percent of the total, are being considered for closure. Most are in small communities and open only part-time, USPS said. Click here for state-by-state lists. (Wall Street Journal photo by Eli Meir Kaplan: Former post office in Millville, W.Va., which closed Jan. 21.)

"Our customers' habits have made it clear that they no longer require a physical post office to conduct most of their postal business," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement. "The Postal Service of the future will be smaller, leaner and more competitive and it will continue to drive commerce, serve communities and deliver value." Many places losing post offices will be served by automated stations or local vendors who will sell stamps and other mail supplies.

This announcement did not come as a surprise because it came only weeks after the Postal Service imposed new regulations making it easier to close some of the 32,000 post offices, Eyder Peralta of National Public Radio reports. And, we would add, there have been many reports around the country of individual post offices being on the chopping block. The proposed closings, expected to save $200 million, come as the USPS is running multi-billion-dollar deficits and approaches its $15 billion borrowing limit, Angela Greiling Keane of Bloomberg News reports. (Read more)