To save money, the Postal Service plans to close thousands of post offices

To save money, the Postal Service plans to close thousands of post offices. The U.S. Postal Service, which lost $8 billion last year and is now in financial trouble, is planning to close thousands of post offices...

To save money, the Postal Service plans to close thousands of post offices. The U.S. Postal Service, which lost $8 billion last year and is now in financial trouble, is working on a plan to close thousands of local post offices in order to save money. According to the Associated Press, most of the approximately 3,600 post offices facing review or closure are in rural areas, but postal officials said they are considering alternative services, such as placing post offices in local stores, city halls or community centers. In these cases, so-called rural post offices will replace the closed ones. And just because a post office is included in the review does not necessarily mean it will be closed. The Postal Service announced in January that it would review 1,400 post offices that were being considered for closure. So far, 280 have been closed, 200 are still open after review, 620 are still under review, and 300 will be moved to the new review list. Once a post office is selected for review, customers served by the post office will have 60 days to submit their views and, if a post office is to be closed, they will be able to appeal to the independent Postal Regulatory Commission. Currently, the U.S. Postal System operates more than 31,000 local post offices, branch offices and postal stations, up from 38,000 10 years ago. Adopt other solutions to reduce costs Just as the economic recession has caused a large decline in advertising mail, the Postal Service has been struggling to cope with the losses caused by the development of the Internet. Last year, an estimated 50% of bills were sent over the Internet rather than by mail, up from just 5% a decade ago. In addition, the Postal Service has made significant layoffs over the past few years, reducing costs by billions of dollars. It is also asking Congress to allow it to reduce its hours to deliver mail five days a week and to relax the terms of its annuity payments, a $5.5 billion annual payment that funds future retiree health benefits.