To Be Discontinued: The Postal Service identifies 170 suspended post offices for permanent closure
Rationale for a Suspension Dashboard: Comments for the PRC’s Public Inquiry
Counting Up Collection Box Removals in 2020-2021: Lists & Maps
Lost in Limbo: Post Offices Under Suspension
How slower mail has become a fact of life: USPS Service Performance and Postal Reform
Reply to the USPS: How the new service standards will cause geographic discrimination
New Dashboard tracks emergency suspensions
Suspension date: 9/13/2019
Reason: Lease terminated by Lessor
Suspension date: 6/1/2009
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 10/31/2011
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 8/25/2010
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 1/21/2020
Reason: Building Renovations
Suspension date: 5/23/2014
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 11/8/2010
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 8/30/2010
Reason: Building closed
Suspension date: 9/4/2010
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 10/3/2014
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 5/30/2014
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 7/31/2010
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 8/12/2021
Reason: Building demolished for redevelopment
Suspension date: 5/31/2014
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 3/31/2010
Reason: Lease terminated lessor
Suspension date: 12/20/2013
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service/ No qualified personnel
Suspension date: 4/10/2009
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 4/8/2020
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 1/31/2011
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 6/15/2011
Reason: Insufficient Customer Demand
Suspension date: 6/27/2007
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 6/14/2013
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 7/24/2021
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 5/9/2013
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 9/8/2020
Reason: Damage - Fire
Suspension date: 3/2/2013
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 8/1/2014
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 12/3/2012
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 6/25/2009
Reason: Lease terminated lessor
Suspension date: 11/30/2012
Reason: Damage
When the Postal Service closes a post office for an emergency, like unsafe building conditions after a weather event or a last-minute breakdown in lease negotiations, it's supposed to correct the problem as soon as possible — by making repairs, settling the lease issue or finding a new location. The Postal Service, however, may choose instead to initiate a study about whether or not to close the post office permanently.
The law does not specify a time frame for re-opening the office or completing the discontinuance process, so some post offices can end up in limbo for many years. A large backlog of unresolved suspensions sometimes develops. At the end of fiscal year 2021, there were about 450 post offices under suspension, nearly a hundred of them going back to 2012 or before.
In February, the Postal Regulatory Commission opened a Public Inquiry docket (its second on suspensions) to examine how the the resolution of these suspensions might be expedited, presumably through a modification of the rules governing discontinuances.
To provide a clearer picture of the suspensions and to lend some transparency to the process of resolving them as it unfolds, we’ve created a Suspension Dashboard. It includes a page for each of the 450 suspended offices, with information about its suspension status, community demographics and facility data.
You can view the new suspension dashboard here.
When the Postal Service closes a post office for an emergency, like unsafe building conditions after a weather event or a last-minute breakdown in lease negotiations, it's supposed to correct the problem as soon as possible — by making repairs, settling the lease issue or finding a new location. The Postal Service, however, may choose instead to initiate a study about whether or not to permanently close the post office.
The law does not specify a time frame for re-opening the office or completing the discontinuance process, so some post offices can end up in limbo for many years. A large backlog of unresolved suspensions sometimes develops. At the end of fiscal year 2021, there were about 450 post offices under suspension, nearly a hundred of them going back to 2012 or before.
In February, the Postal Regulatory Commission opened a Public Inquiry docket (its second on suspensions) to examine how the the resolution of these suspensions might be expedited, presumably through a modification of the rules governing discontinuances.
You can view the new suspension dashboard here.
Suspension date: 9/13/2019
Reason: Lease terminated by Lessor
Suspension date: 6/1/2009
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 10/31/2011
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 8/25/2010
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 1/21/2020
Reason: Building Renovations
Suspension date: 5/23/2014
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 11/8/2010
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 8/30/2010
Reason: Building closed
Suspension date: 9/4/2010
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 10/3/2014
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 5/30/2014
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 7/31/2010
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 8/12/2021
Reason: Building demolished for redevelopment
Suspension date: 5/31/2014
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 3/31/2010
Reason: Lease terminated lessor
Suspension date: 12/20/2013
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service/ No qualified personnel
Suspension date: 4/10/2009
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 4/8/2020
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 1/31/2011
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 6/15/2011
Reason: Insufficient Customer Demand
Suspension date: 6/27/2007
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 6/14/2013
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 7/24/2021
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 5/9/2013
Reason: Lease terminated by lessor
Suspension date: 9/8/2020
Reason: Damage - Fire
Suspension date: 3/2/2013
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 8/1/2014
Reason: Lease terminated by Postal Service
Suspension date: 12/3/2012
Reason: Safety/Health Concerns
Suspension date: 6/25/2009
Reason: Lease terminated lessor
Suspension date: 11/30/2012
Reason: Damage
The USPS financial report for April 2022 is one for the history books. It shows a net income of $60 billion for the month — the one-time impact of the postal reform bill, which reversed the retiree health benefit deficit that had accrued since 2012.
https://www.prc.gov/docs/121/121830/2022.5.24%20April%20FY2022%20Monthly%20Financial%20Report.pdf
A post office was established in Coram, MT in 1914. In 1975 it was converted to Community Post Office (a type of contract postal unit), and the community lost its right to appeal a closing (so say the @USPS and recent decisions by the @PostalRegulator). https://www.flickr.com/photos/outlawpete/4153771306
“The post office is our community center. Everyone knows each other, and people post on the bulletin boards. I almost always run into someone I know or someone I haven’t seen in a while at the post office.” https://flatheadbeacon.com/2022/05/23/coram-post-office-to-close-this-summer/
“The post office is our community center. Everyone knows each other, and people post on the bulletin boards. I almost always run into someone I know or someone I haven’t seen in a while at the post office.”
Coram Post Office to Close this Summer - Flathead Beacon
For the last four decades, Kim Pinter and her husband have lived in the remote Bad Rock Canyon seven miles wes...
flatheadbeacon.com
Here's a map showing the 170 post offices “temporarily” suspended several years ago that USPS now says "qualify for swift official Discontinuance." They'll be permanently closed by September.
Suspended post offices to be discontinued - Google My Maps
Suspended post offices to be discontinued
www.google.com
Deja DUO: The USPS is planning another Delivery Unit Optimization initiative. The last one (2011-2013) relocated carriers from about 1,500 post offices. The OIG said it could not determine if the consolidations reduced costs or improved efficiencies.
DeJoy outlines USPS plans to close, consolidate facilities across its delivery network | Federal News Network
The Postal Service is looking to restructure its network of facilities in its delivery network as part of an ong...
federalnewsnetwork.com
To Be Discontinued: The Postal Service identifies 170 suspended post offices for permanent closure
To Be Discontinued: The Postal Service identifies 170 suspended post offices for permanent closure
Earlier this week the Postal Service shared a list with the Postal Regulatory Commission identifying 170 post office...
www.savethepostoffice.com
Earlier this week the @USPS shared a list with the @PostalRegulator containing 170 post offices, “temporarily” closed many years ago by emergency suspension, that "qualify for swift official Discontinuance." Here's the list, map, and more details.
https://www.savethepostoffice.com/to-be-discontinued-the-postal-service-identifies-170-suspended-post-offices-for-permanent-closure/
In making its argument against disclosing the contract (which may not even be an NSA with Amazon), the USPS cites as precedent a PRC case that actually did involve an Amazon NSA (as Amazon itself revealed by intervening). https://www.prc.gov/docs/89/89140/Order%20No.%201985.pdf
https://www.savethepostoffice.com/premature-motion-prc-dismisses-bid-to-view-non-public-amazon-docs/
The USPS has asked the @PostalRegulatory to deny the request by a coalition of unions to see what it believes is the negotiated service agreement with Amazon. USPS says disclosure would have a chilling effect on its ability to interact with its customers. https://www.prc.gov/docs/121/121781/Motion.Opp.Access%20SOC.pdf
Counting Up Collection Box Removals in 2020-2021: Lists & Maps
On August 20, 2020, amidst the furor over box removals, Robert Bracco, using the muckrock.com FOIA request website, filed a request asking the Postal Service to provide data “pertaining to the existence, addition, removal, or relocation of USPS collection boxes inside the United States and territories created or altered after 8/15/2019.”
On March 25, 2022 — nineteen months after the request was filed, and after seventeen follow-up messages inquiring on the status of the request — the Postal Service finally responded. It provided three lists of collection box locations in service in December 2019, 2020 and 2021. The lists make it possible to track additions and removals over this two-year period. We have the lists and maps here.
Service Performance Update
On October 1, 2021, the Postal Service lowered service standards for First Class mail, saying that this would allow it to deliver 95 percent of the mail on time. Since October, scores have averaged about 89 percent, and the Postal Service now says it will not reach 95 percent for two or three years. The new target for FY 2022 is 91 percent.
The weekly performance scores are being submitted as evidence in Pennsylvania v. DeJoy. The most recent report is here. For more performance data, check out our dashboard.
Service Performance Update
On October 1, 2021, the Postal Service lowered service standards for First Class mail, saying that this would allow it to deliver 95 percent of the mail on time. Since October, scores have averaged about 89 percent, and the Postal Service now says it will not reach 95 percent for two or three years. The new target for FY 2022 is 91 percent.
The weekly performance scores are being submitted as evidence in Pennsylvania v. DeJoy. The most recent report is here. For more performance data, check out our dashboard.
The Year in Review
How the pandemic could lead to a big USPS price hike
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Winter 2021 Newsletter
The 2020 Mail Delays: Stats & Charts
Back to the Future: The USPS, PRC and Mailers revisit the meaning of PAEA
The Postal Service wants to slow down the mail, Congress says not so fast
“Save the Post Office” launches new Service Performance Dashboard
This week marks the 51st anniversary of the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history: The Great Postal Strike of 1970
What the USPS 10-year plan may have to say about future rate increases
Spring 2021 CPWU Newsletter
New dashboard on the PRC Advisory Opinion on the change in service standards
Mapping out the changes in USPS service standards
A talk with the founder of the “Save the Post Office” website
How the postal reform bill may help the Postal Service slow down the mail
Is ending air mail unfair? Testimony for the PRC’s Advisory Opinion on Changing Service Standards
Postal advocate testifies against reducing USPS service standards
Postal historian asks the PRC to return the Postal Service to a mission of service
Why the USPS proposal to reduce service standards will cause “undue discrimination”
Reply to the USPS: How the new service standards will cause geographic discrimination
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Summer Newsletter
The 2020 USPS Household Diary Study is out
A tour of the new USPS package sorting machine
Communities and Postal Workers United: Fall 2021 Newsletter
New book examines the attack on the people’s post office and the fight to defend it
Rachel Maddow on the potential demise of DeJoy
Postlandia’s 2022 Calendar of Post Offices and Places
“The Great Postal Heist” to be released on Jan. 25, 2022
First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat, the new book by historian Christopher Shaw, is hot off the presses. The book should have a profound impact on shaping the postal narrative.
Listen to interviews with Christopher Shaw on Wisconsin NPR here, WBAI's Leonard Lopate show here, and Sam Seder's Majority Report here. And check out the podcast of Chris talking with Ralph Nader in a City Lights event here. Learn more about the book here.
From the Foreword by Ralph Nader
“The preventable plight of our U.S. Postal Service is an important issue for all Americans. When President Donald J. Trump’s donor and henchman Louis DeJoy became postmaster general in 2020 and proceeded to dismantle the agency, millions of citizens participated in demonstrations that revealed a deep civic commitment to preserving the people’s post office. While DeJoy triggered a crisis that immediately threatened the presidential election process, attacks on the Postal Service have been an ongoing problem for decades. The anti-postal campaigns of corporate interests have remained a continuing source of frustration to those of us who have observed the Postal Service’s decline due to unimaginative management, a deck stacked to favor profit-driven entities such as FedEx and UPS, and unfair financial obligations imposed by Congress.” Read more.
First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat, the new book by historian Christopher Shaw, is hot off the presses. The book should have a profound impact on shaping the postal narrative.
Listen to interviews with Christopher Shaw on Wisconsin NPR here, WBAI's Leonard Lopate show here, and Sam Seder's Majority Report here. Learn more about the book here.
From the Foreword by Ralph Nader
“The preventable plight of our U.S. Postal Service is an important issue for all Americans. When President Donald J. Trump’s donor and henchman Louis DeJoy became postmaster general in 2020 and proceeded to dismantle the agency, millions of citizens participated in demonstrations that revealed a deep civic commitment to preserving the people’s post office. While DeJoy triggered a crisis that immediately threatened the presidential election process, attacks on the Postal Service have been an ongoing problem for decades. The anti-postal campaigns of corporate interests have remained a continuing source of frustration to those of us who have observed the Postal Service’s decline due to unimaginative management, a deck stacked to favor profit-driven entities such as FedEx and UPS, and unfair financial obligations imposed by Congress.” Read more.
The Year in Review
How the pandemic could lead to a big USPS price hike
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Winter 2021 Newsletter
The 2020 Mail Delays: Stats & Charts
Back to the Future: The USPS, PRC and Mailers revisit the meaning of PAEA
The Postal Service wants to slow down the mail, Congress says not so fast
“Save the Post Office” launches new Service Performance Dashboard
This week marks the 51st anniversary of the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history: The Great Postal Strike of 1970
What the USPS 10-year plan may have to say about future rate increases
Spring 2021 CPWU Newsletter
New dashboard on the PRC Advisory Opinion on the change in service standards
Mapping out the changes in USPS service standards
A talk with the founder of the “Save the Post Office” website
How the postal reform bill may help the Postal Service slow down the mail
Is ending air mail unfair? Testimony for the PRC’s Advisory Opinion on Changing Service Standards
Postal advocate testifies against reducing USPS service standards
Postal historian asks the PRC to return the Postal Service to a mission of service
Why the USPS proposal to reduce service standards will cause “undue discrimination”
Reply to the USPS: How the new service standards will cause geographic discrimination
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Summer Newsletter
The 2020 USPS Household Diary Study is out
A tour of the new USPS package sorting machine
Communities and Postal Workers United: Fall 2021 Newsletter
New book examines the attack on the people’s post office and the fight to defend it
Rachel Maddow on the potential demise of DeJoy
Postlandia’s 2022 Calendar of Post Offices and Places
“The Great Postal Heist” to be released on Jan. 25, 2022
A New Agenda for Postal Reform
Posts by a postmaster: Articles by Mark Jamison
A New Agenda for Postal Reform
Posts by a postmaster: Articles by Mark Jamison
