Postal reform bill would limit rural office closings

The Fernandina Beach, Fla., post office, will close next month,
despite efforts to save it, SavethePostOffice.com reports.
(Copyright photo by LoneStarMike via USA-Pictures.com)

The postal-reform bill being considered by a House committee today includes a provision that would limit closure of rural post offices to no more than 5 percent of total office closures in a year.

The provision is found in House Resolution 2615, filed by Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and is included in HR 2748, titled the Postal Reform Act of 2013 and filed by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. It is expected to approve the bill, which would allow the U.S. Postal Service to limit Saturday mail delivery to packages but let newspapers use mailboxes to make their own deliveries on Saturdays, as they can now do on Sundays.

The Smith-Issa legislation would also require the Postal Service to "provide adequate notice of its intention to close or consolidate [a rural] post office at least 60 days prior to the proposed date of such closing" to the office's postal customers, and to survey them about the closing or consolidation and "one or more alternative options." It would also require the service to "provide alternative access to postal services to those served" by a closed post office and give its customers explaining its choice of the alternative. For the committee summary of the reform bill, click here.