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PrintIt's one thing to hear that the U.S. Postal Service, a government agency that receives no tax revenue, is slashing infrastructure to try to offset what it said were $5.7 billion in losses this year — part of a state of peril brought on by the economy, pension costs and competition from delivery businesses and electronic bill paying and communications.
It's something else to learn that your hometown post office is among the nearly 3,700 "underused" offices targeted for possible closure.
As Shannon Wendt, the city clerk of Geuda Springs, Kan., population 185, according the 2010 census, told the Winfield Daily Courier: "The post office is the one big thing that we still have, and I'm kind of fearful for what's going to happen to our community."
Cuts clearly are part of the remedy for the Postal Service's woes, but public opinion supports cutting Saturday delivery first — something that would require congressional action and save $3.3 billion to $5.1 billion a year.
In a Washington Post poll last year, 71 percent of Americans favored ending Saturday delivery while 64 percent disapproved of closing local branches including their own.
If they close, these rural post offices will be missed for their neighborly conversations and wealth of information. As a recent email from the Inman-based Kansas Sampler Foundation noted, "in some cases the post office is the only business left in the town. It's where people meet each day. It's the place for news. It's the evidence that 'we are still a town.'"
The post office also has been a community's port to the world, especially for doing business.
Rural carriers would remain on the job Monday through Saturday, offering what the Postal Service calls a "post office on wheels." The service also expects to contract with stores, libraries and other government offices to sell stamps, money orders and shipping materials.
But will that meet every need? Will potential recruits under Gov. Sam Brownback's rural opportunity zone program be deterred by a "closed" sign on the local post office? The Kansas Sampler Foundation sees the loss of a community's post office leading to the loss of its zip code in favor of the "Closest Big Town's zip code," meaning the name of one's hometown would no longer appear on a letter. That would target a small town's very identity.
Where post office closures are proposed, residents should have 60 days to submit feedback and, if the closing goes forward, another 30 days to appeal. As the process proceeds, those affected should speak up and make sure officials know how losing their post office would affect their lives and communities.
As the Kansas Sampler Foundation put it: "Put up a fight."
The column was first published in The Wichita Eagle.
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Comments
Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
"The Kansas Sampler Foundation sees the loss of a community's post office leading to the loss of its zip code in favor of the 'Closest Big Town's zip code,' meaning the name of one's hometown would no longer appear on a letter. That would target a small town's very identity."
There are several small (2,000+) cities in the KC suburb of Johnson County, Kan., that have used "Shawnee Mission" for decades and have had no problem maintaining their identities.
"As a recent email from the Inman-based Kansas Sampler Foundation noted, 'in some cases the post office is the only business left in the town. It's where people meet each day. It's the place for news. It's the evidence that 'we are still a town.' . . . Will potential recruits under Gov. Sam Brownback's rural opportunity zone program be deterred by a 'closed' sign on the local post office?"
How many residents and prospective residents consider a town's post office when deciding whether to stay or move there? I guess post offices are to small towns what pro sports franchises are to large cities: a must-have for attracting and retaining residents and businesses. Riiiiight.
I used to live in a Missouri town of ~100 that lost its post office in the 1980s. It's doing just fine, according to all of my relatives who live there. If a town's identity and commerce is that dependent on a post office, it has bigger problems to worry about.