USPS: Fewer than 170 post offices on closure list
December 16th, 2009 | Postal Service | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Last time we updated you on the list of possible post office closures, in November, the Postal Service had whittled it down to 241, from an original list of roughly 3,300.
The Postal Service announced earlier this week that the list shrank again — to fewer than 170 post offices. The updated list is here (pdf). USPS officials tell me the list could still change again before it’s finalized; they’re hoping to begin closing post offices early next year, though that date is flexible.
Tags: post office closures
241 post offices remain on updated closure list
November 20th, 2009 | Postal Service | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
The U.S. Postal Service issued another updated list of possible post office closures (pdf) on Friday, and just 241 facilities remain, down from more than 3,300 when the review process started this summer.
Most of the proposed closures are still concentrated in a few states. Florida has the most, with 40; mail volume has fallen faster than the national average in Florida, largely due to the collapse in the housing sector. California and Ohio both have 26 possible closures; Georgia has 17; and Tennessee has 16.
The list still isn’t final. Postmaster General John Potter said last month that he doesn’t expect the closures to begin until at least January; postal officials estimate they will save between $20 million and $100 million per year.
Tags: John Potter, post office closures
Perception in policy
October 12th, 2009 | Agencies Postal Service | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
A few of you have e-mailed me about the latest list of post office closures, released on Friday. I think there’s an interesting gap between how the public perceives the closures and how the Postal Service perceives them.
The closures are getting a huge amount of attention. Newspapers across the country are running stories about them; Congress has called hearings about them; even Andy Rooney threw in his two cents.
To the Postal Service, though, these closures are a pretty minor item. I don’t mean they’re not taking them seriously. But the closures represent a tiny fraction of the agency’s budget/network problems. The latest list of possible closures includes just 371 post offices — about 1 percent of the Postal Service’s 37,000+ facilities. And closing them all will save, at most, $100 million per year, or 1.5 percent of the Postal Service’s $7 billion budget deficit.
John Potter, in his speech at the National Press Club on Thursday, basically asked everyone to stop focusing so much on the closures and turn to bigger issues, like 5-day delivery and new lines of business for the Postal Service.
That gap in perception obviously makes it harder for the Postal Service to implement what it believes are the best policies. Members of Congress are going to react to public outcry over post office closures, regardless of whether the Postal Service says they’re necessary.
But I guess it’s also an encouraging sign for the Postal Service, no? It’d be a bad sign if people weren’t attached to their neighborhood post offices.
Tags: post office closures
Updated list of possible USPS closures: 371 post offices
October 9th, 2009 | Agencies Postal Service | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Here’s the updated list (pdf) of proposed post office closures from USPS. There are 371 post offices on the list, down from nearly 700 on the initial list released in July. Most of them are in major urban areas.
California has the greatest number of proposed closures — roughly 70 of them, mostly in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. New York City, Atlanta, and several cities in Florida would also face cuts.
The Postal Service started the summer with almost 3,600 post offices under review. It pared that list down to 677 before a July 30 congressional hearing on the closures. This latest list isn’t final: Postal officials say it will likely undergo at least one more revision.
Postmaster General John Potter said yesterday that he doesn’t expect closures to begin until at least January. A spokesman for the Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees the Postal Service, told Federal Times that the PRC expects to receive a final list of closures by December.
The Postal Service estimates the closures will save between $20 million and $100 million per year. The agency had a nearly $7 billion deficit in fiscal year 2009, which ended on Sept. 30.
Tags: John Potter, post office closures