3,700 Post Offices Set to Close

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is being forced to close an estimated 3,700 locations nationwide in an effort to close their revenue gap.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is not immune to the recession. USPS reported an $8.5 billion net loss last year and as a result, 3,700 post offices are set to close. The retail locations being studied for closure are throughout all 50 states and Washington D.C..

The USPS says most of these 3,700 make about $50 per day and have little foot traffic due to online bill pay, email, and other digital innovations.

“The Postal Service of the future will be smaller, leaner and more competitive and it will continue to drive commerce, serve communities and deliver value,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe as reported by CNN.

Because of the $20 billion revenue gap they expect to have by 2015, USPS is also considering keeping offices open only five days per week. Donohoe said that the closings alone are expected to save an estimated $200 million.

“USPS cannot refuse transactions that will be too costly to them, and it cannot segment its clientele accordingly,” John Wu wrote on the Wall Street Journal’s page about the closures. “Before criticizing the USPS for failing to run a profit, one should keep this in mind. This system is in place to ensure fairness to the whole country, that certain parts of the country would not face disproportionate costs for communication.”

The job loss will be great and to supplement this and the minimization of retail locations, USPS will be setting up about 2,500 “village post offices” that may be located inside grocery and convenience stores. The closings will start in the next four to six months.

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