Rural Post Offices to Close

Posted by Chad Vorthmann on Jul 28, 2011 in National Affairs, Rural Life | 0 comments

The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service unveiled a proposal Thursday to close 37,000 post offices across the country. Most of the post offices eyed for closure over the coming months are located in rural areas.

Postal Service officials said the offices’ high operating costs and low revenue justify the closure. The Postal Service is expected to lose nearly $8.3 billion this fiscal year. The offices could be closed starting in January and account for 11 percent of the Postal Services’ retail operations. The closures are expected to save the Postal Service $200 million a year.

“We’ve made heroic efforts to take costs out of the organization while continuing to provide services,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said Tuesday.

AFBF supports programs to provide efficient mail service to rural America and believes rural mail delivery should be made available to every reasonably accessible farmstead. AFBF is opposed to closing rural post offices without a public hearing.