An About Face

An About Face

The United States Postal Service has done an about face when it comes to closing thousands of rural post offices. It appears the voice of the people still carries some sway. It also doesn’t hurt that this is an election year. After receiving an overwhelming number of letters from rural communities that had been threatened with the closures, and having the Senate pass a bill last month that would halt most of the rural post office closings the USPS has decided that no post offices will be closed, instead they will reduce operating hours. The USPS is still hanging in there though for postal legislation that includes ending Saturday mail delivery. With more people switching to the Internet for bill paying and communication the USPS first class mail volume has declined drastically, and the agency says if nothing changes, its annual losses will exceed $21 billion by 2016. Frankly, I think doing away with Saturday delivery would be an acceptable compromise. But in the meantime, perhaps reducing the cost of a first class stamp and raising the cost of bulk junk mail would go a long way in restoring public opinion and raising revenue.  

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