Postal Service names 3,700 post offices that could be closed - The Washington Post

 

 

The U.S. Postal Service is targeting 3,700 post offices across the country that could be closed, the largest downsizing in the history of the money-losing agency.

The unprofitable stations, branches and main offices that could be shuttered starting in January account for about 11 percent of the Postal Service’s retail operations. In the Washington area, 32 post offices could be jettisoned, from those servicing Congress in the U.S. Capitol to ones in Silver Spring and downtown Leesburg.

Another 124 elsewhere in Maryland and Virginia are on the list, with the rest are scattered across 47 other states. The local post office with an American flag flying overhead has helped define communities — rural, suburban and urban — in many of these areas for more than two centuries.

The Postal Service hopes the contraction will save $200 million a year. That does not come close to recouping the $8 billion the agency is expected to lose for the second year running as it fights plummeting mail volume. But postal officials said they intend to review half of their network of 32,000 post offices for closure in the next decade as they try to slash labor costs.

“We’ve made heroic efforts to take costs out of the organization while continuing to provide services,” Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe said at a news conference, comparing his agency’s financial struggles to the federal government’s effort to stay within its cap on borrowing.

“We have employees waiting for customers to come into their lobbies, and they have less than two hours they’re working,” he said.

A new “Village Post Office”

About 2,500 of the 3,654 sites targeted for possible closure will be replaced by a clerk in a local store, gas station, library or town hall in a new business model the Postal Service describes as a “Village Post Office.”

In January, the Postal Service said it would review 2,000 post offices for closure, but the plan met opposition from lawmakers and in affected communities. About 280 of those post offices have closed, and officials said another 700 are likely to.

Officials said the reduction announced Tuesday could move forward quickly under new rules that give the Postal Service greater authority to act.

Each post office will be evaluated for how much money it brings in, how many hours its employees work and how close it is to other post offices. More than 3,000 of the post offices identified bring in less than $27,500 in annual revenue, figures from the Postal Service show. Yet many of them cost more than $100,000 to operate.

Donahoe said the closures would affect the jobs of 4,500 postmasters, station managers, supervisors and clerks. Some would be able to apply for other positions within the Postal Service, but others would lose their jobs.

The Postal Service now sells stamps in thousands of CVS pharmacies, Wal-Marts and other retail stores; the “Village” model would expand those services.

Postal officials said they are soliciting small retailers to fold these Village Post Offices into their businesses in the next year, with its first contract under negotiation in a small town in Washington state.