US Congress digs in its heels over post office closures

More than 80 US Congressmen have written to America’s postal regulator to state their belief that closing thousands of post offices is the “wrong way” to deal with financial problems at the US Postal Service. The letter signed by 75 Democrats and seven Republicans in the House of Representatives said they appreciated the need to change the USPS business model to protect its viability.

But, the lawmakers insisted that the widespread USPS retail network was actually a competitive advantage.

USPS is looking to close as many as 3,653 in this year’s round of retail “optimisation”, although many more of its 32,000-strong post office network could go in future years.

Members of Congress naturally stand up against postal facility closures in their districts, although on this occasion the Postal Service needs support on Capitol Hill for reforms in other areas if it is to return to long-term financial stability.

Impact

Writing to the Postal Regulatory Commission, which is reviewing the plans to potentially shutter 3,653 post offices, the 82 Congressmen said the closure plans would have a “severe” negative impact on rural America.

They said the concept of “village post offices” – postal counters run within partner facilities like grocery stores or gas stations – “will not fill this void and do not offer all regular postal services”.

The letter to the Commission went further in criticising USPS plans, casting doubt on the assumption that “drastic” cuts in costs was the only way to maintain the solvency of the Postal service.

Instead, the Congressmen said they would back a repeal of the Postal Service’s $5.5bn annual obligation to prefund its future retiree benefits, and the return of up to $75bn in retirement fund overpayments.

They would also support more flexibility for USPS to offer a wider range of products, including wine and beer shipment services.

“Congress should allow the Postal Service to operate like a business, rather than punish rural America for the strictures that Congress placed on the Postal Service in 2006,” the letter stated.

Carper

The letter to the regulators came yesterday as the Postal Service unveiled details of its plan to close up to 252 mail processing plants across the country, which will cause further angst within a Congress that is focused on the issue of jobs and the economy at the moment.

Senator Thomas Carper, who is leading efforts to pass comprehensive postal reform legislation, noted that some of the processing plants on the list were in his own state of Delaware.

He would be paying close attention to ensure the review of such facilities is conducted fairly, he said. But the Senator pointedly did not state that the Postal Service should not be reviewing those facilities for closure.

Carper said: “This dramatic step of proposing to close hundreds of distribution centers around the country underscores again the very dire financial challenges it faces.

“The hard truth is that, if nothing is done, the Postal Service is going to lose $10 billion this year. Congress and the Administration must act quickly to help the Postal Service save itself. Failure to act will result in the Postal Service being insolvent within a year, if not sooner, bringing more pain to communities across the country and wreaking havoc on our already fragile economy,” added Senator Carper.

Earlier this week, the Senator wrote to President Obama urging him to act quickly on the USPS troubles, since the Postal Service “will have difficulty making payroll in October”.

Carper urged the White House to return pension overpayments, restructure prefunding requirements, allow elimination of Saturday delivery and new revenue opportunities for USPS.