Word comes from Arkansas today that a dozen post offices, as well as a couple of others we'd heard about previously, have been removed from the list of those in the state being studied for closure under the Retail Access Optimization Initiative. That's brings to nearly a hundred the number of post offices removed from the RAOI (most of them … Read More
Philistines at the Gate: The Venice Post Office on the Chopping Block
On Monday of this week, Ruth Goldway, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), will be speaking in Venice, California, at a meeting of the Venice Post Office Task Force. The subject of the meeting: the fate of the Venice Main Post Office, a beautiful example of New Deal architecture, which the Postal Service has decided to close and sell, … Read More
Let the sunshine in: USPS declares an “open door” policy on taping closure meetings
Bravo to the Postal Service. Finally something for which it can be congratulated — a new "open door" policy on video and audio taping of town meetings on post office closures. Not that it had much choice in the matter. Prohibiting people form recording the meetings would not have sat well with Congress, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the news media, … Read More
The Twisted Logic of the Postal Service: Fewer post offices, and more post offices without a postmaster
It takes a lot of imagination to destroy an institution as big and durable as the U. S. Postal Service, but the executives in L'Enfant Plaza keep coming up with bold new ideas for doing just that. Today the Postal Service published its “Final Rule” on “amending its regulations to improve the administration of the Post Office closing and consolidation … Read More
The Postal Service Runs Amok: How Not to Close a Post Office
In the classic guidebook for lawyers,The Art of Cross-Examination, Francis Wellman advises, “A lawyer should never ask a witness in cross-examination a question unless in the first place the lawyer knows what the answer would be or in the second place didn’t care.” This week lawyers for the Postal Service cross-examined Mark Strong, president of the National League of Postmasters, … Read More
Out of Thin Air: New Numbers on Declining Mail Volumes
Someone please give Phil Herr at the GAO a Xanax. The guy has been focused on USPS doomsday scenarios for so long, it’s apparently making him depressed and clouding his vision. His new GAO report paints a dire picture of the Postal Service’s future, but it’s based on numbers that seem to be pulled out of thin air. A few … Read More
A Conflict of Visions: The Pension Dispute, Periodicals Mail, and the Great Postal Debate
GUEST POST BY POSTMASTER MARK JAMISON Two competing visions are defining the great postal debate of 2011. The management of the Postal Service, along with the mainstream media and many stakeholders in the mail industry, are advancing a narrative that blames the Internet and postal workers for the “crisis” in the postal system. The Internet is making the post office … Read More
NALC Brings in the Big Guns
The National Association of Letter Carriers has apparently decided it’s time to bring in the big guns to defend the interests of its members. In a press release today, NALC announced that it has retained the services of the investment bank Lazard Group, LLC, and Ron Bloom, former assistant to President Barack Obama for Manufacturing Policy. Lazard and Bloom will … Read More
Here Come the Closings, Starting with the A’s
Yesterday the Postal Service announced that twenty-one post offices in Alabama would be closing in November and December, and today there’s word that some in Arkansas are closing as well, so it looks like the Postal Service is working its way through the alphabet. Next week we’ll probably hear about closings in Arizona, California, and Colorado. It’s only been a … Read More
The Ed Show, once again, with a helpful commentary
With one caveat: Ed blames the Republicans for PAEA and the health-care pre-funding problem, but Democrats can take their share of the blame, too. Plus, the effort to protect post offices has historically been bipartisan, and it's going to take members of both parties to step up again. Still, a helpful comment from Ed: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world … Read More
Haste Makes Waste: The Hidden Cost of Closing Post Offices
The vast majority of post offices being reviewed for closure are leased properties, and most of them will have months or years left on the lease when they close. The Postal Service could run into some serious buy-out costs over the coming year, perhaps close to $100 million. About 250 post offices have closed so far this year, and another … Read More
The Hidden Cost of Closing Post Offices: Lease Buy-Outs
RENT OWED ON POST OFFICES CLOSED OR CLOSING IN 2011 POST OFFICE ST ZIP STATUS CLOSE DATE LEASE EXPIRES MO. RENT TOTAL OWED BELK AL 35545-2000 FD 12/1/11 4/30/14 $275 $7,815 LANGSTON AL 35755-8231 FD 12/1/11 12/31/14 $1,083 $39,349 LESTER AL 35647-4046 FD 11/5/11 5/31/15 $620 $26,060 MOBILE AL 36613-3598 CL 6/18/11 5/1/12 $961 $9,858 MONTGOMERY AL 36110-9998 CL 3/26/11 … Read More
The Internet Myth: Why Email Isn’t Killing Snail Mail
The New York Times finally gets it right — an article that explains how the Internet is not the cause of the Postal Service’s woes. It’s called “Why the Internet Isn’t the Death of the Post Office,” and it’s written by James Fallows, a highly respected, award-winning author and journalist. Unfortunately for the Times, Fallows’ article was published on September 4, … Read More
Post Office Closings: Updated List and Projections
The pace of post office closings and appeals is picking up, and it’s only going to get worse over the coming months. If Congress doesn’t do something soon, by the end of the year we’re going to see post offices closing at a rate of several per day. An updated list of the post offices that have closed, been suspended, … Read More
