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Friday, April 27, 2012

Survey of Iowa towns shows they'd lose more than Postal Service would save if post offices closed

Closing small rural post offices would probably create economic loss among their customers five times as great as what the U.S. Postal Service would save, according to a study in Iowa. The survey of nine tiny towns took on the task that no one in the federal government has yet to tackle: the very real and costly side-effects on small towns, some with fewer than 200 residents.

The study, undertaken by Northwest Iowa Development, puts a fine point on a proposal added by U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) just this week to the postal-reform bill, which would require the postal service to determine the impact of closures or consolidations to small businesses.

The report indicated that residents of small towns would lose out economically because of their need to travel to other post offices to do business; a lose of productivity because of that travel; increase of postal costs because of a need to use other shipping venues such as FedEx and UPS; and a loss of jobs. The total loss from just the nine Iowa towns studied was estimated to be $735,335. The amount the postal service would save per year by shutting them down: $154,352. (Read more.)

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