Image via Wikipedia
The United States Postal Service, USPS, used to be the backbone of America. However, the bad economy and the development of new technology have hit the post office hard. Many people are now paying bills online instead of mailing their payments. Instead of sending letters, people are sending e-mails, which is causing the USPS to change in order to keep up with the times.
In order to stay afloat, according to an article by Amy Bingham titled “U.S. Postal Service May Close 3700 Post Offices – Is Yours on the List?” the post office is considering closing 3,700 post offices nationwide within the next year.
Bingham reports the Postal Service has 32,000 retail locations nationwide (more than McDonald’s, Starbucks and Walmart combined!) The USPS is facing an $8.3 billion budget deficit. Closing post offices is just one of several proposals put forth to help reduce costs.
In the article, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe said he announced plans to stop delivering mail on Saturdays, which he said could save $3 billion annually. This move would have to be approved by Congress.
According to the article, every state except Deleware has post offices up for review and the post offices will be reviewed based on:
- How much money it brings in
- How many hours of work are performed there daily
- How close it is to another post office
Bingham reports of the 3,700 post offices up for review, a little over 3,000 of them have annual revenue of less than $27,500 and a workload of less than 2 hours per day. It takes about $100,000 to run a post office.
Many of the proposed closings are in rural areas, where another post office isn’t nearby. The Postal Service plans to partner with community businesses to create Village Post Offices. These offices will sell stamps and ship packages; however, it will not offer custom shipping or passport services. Granhom said the USPS plans to open about 2,500 village post offices in the next year.
According to the article, Congress doesn’t legislate funds for post offices. However, it does control the naming of post offices. This year, Congress has proposed 50 bills to rename post offices. President Obama has signed 23 bills into law, three of which were to rename post offices. This means that 13 percent of all legislation passed this year was to rename post offices!
Senator Ton Carper (D-Del.), the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the postal service, said in the article,
“The Postal Service is facing a dire fiscal crisis and two challenges — the rapid transition to electronic communications and the lingering after effects of the Great Recession — which threaten its very existence. In order to survive, let alone thrive in the 21st century, all options have to be considered and the Postal Service has to modernize the way it does business, including where and when it does business.”
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which oversees the Postal Service, said in the article:
“The Postal Service has 170,000 more employees on the payroll than needed to deliver the mail. Mail volume has dropped 20 percent in the last five years because of new technology,” Issa said. “Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction. There are, however, many difficult decisions ahead that must be made to improve operations, reduce costs and return the Postal Service to financial solvency.”
Click here for a list of Post Offices that are being reviewed.
What do you think this means for the future of paper-based communication? Will paper-based communication or the post office eventually become obsolete?
Related articles
- Postal Service Proposes Closing 3,700 Offices(abcnews.go.com)
- USPS proposes village post offices to cut costs(cbsnews.com)
