The U.S. Postal Service has cut the number of branch offices it plans to close. In response to the news,
The Washington Post published
a map that quantifies the cuts by state. California, Ohio and Florida still lead the nation in the number of offices on the chopping block.
The
Post also provided a
state-by-state list that identifies the branch offices to close. The list originally contained more than 1,000 locations and then dropped to 677. Postal officials have privately said that the final number may be closer to 200.
The Post reported on what is behind the cuts:
"The Postal Service operates almost 37,000 facilities nationwide.
"Mail volume will drop by as much as 20 billion pieces in 2009 from a year earlier, down to roughly 170 billion pieces of mail, according to the Postal Service. The agency
lost $2.4 billion during its third quarter and forecasts a $7 billion loss when its fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
"The closing of postal facilities is one of several cost-cutting moves under consideration. Others include a plan to
offer bonuses to up to 30,000 employees to encourage them to retire or quit their jobs, and a push to have Congress change the Postal Service's schedule of payments to fund
retiree health benefits."
Why not close the small rural post offices that serve fewer people? A
position paper [PDF] released in February by the National League of Postmasters argued in favor of rural post offices:
"Rural post offices are the backbone of rural America and are an integral part of the social, political, and economic fabric of small towns. They are the glue that holds the nation's rural communities together. If a rural post office disappears, the town often disappears.
"Rural customers are not second-class citizens; they deserve access to the postal services that citizens in big cities enjoy. Rural America contains 80 percent of the nation's land and is home to somewhere around 56 million people. Rural Americans are 26 percent of the population and make up 34 percent of Americans with incomes below the official poverty line.
"Small towns also have the highest concentrations of elderly people. Rural post offices often serve as a gathering point for retirees and act as a source of information that goes far beyond postal issues. Rural post offices fulfill a need for this segment of the population that goes far beyond postal services.
"An attack on rural post offices is an attack on rural America, as most rural citizens and all rural Congressmen know well."
The Government Accountability Office recently listed the Postal Service as a "troubled agency" [PDF] that was facing "serious and significant structural financial challenges."
