Money-losing post offices are in line for another licking by the U.S. Postal Service.
What this latest round of cost-cutting means to the 500 post offices across Nebraska and 67 others in western Iowa, however, is not yet clear.
“We don't know where and we don't know how many,'' Roger Humphries, spokesman for the agency's Omaha-area office, said Monday.
No post office will automatically be closed just because it is losing money. “Financial considerations are a big factor, but they're not the only factor,'' said Joanne Veto, a Postal Service spokeswoman in Washington, D.C.
The agency plans to cut costs this year by closing or consolidating 2,000 post offices across the country, Veto said. About half of the nation's 32,000 post offices operate at a deficit.
Veto said there is no list of post offices targeted for closing, nor is there a requirement to close a certain number of facilities in each state or region.
The agency's plans are the result of the latest in a series of studies that have shuttered post offices recently in Omaha and elsewhere in the Midlands.
The Postal Service also is considering dropping Saturday delivery because of continuing financial losses — a record $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2010. The independent agency is government-owned but receives no tax dollars for operating expenses. Instead, it relies on the sales of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
The post office at 1618 Vinton St. closed this month. The station at 3021 Leavenworth St. shut down the day after Thanksgiving.
The station at 2221 N. 24th St. has been closed for cleanup after a December fire in a neighboring business. The post office has been on lists of post offices considered for permanent closing.
The post office in Alvo, Neb., closed in September when it lost its lease.
The shutdowns were not welcomed by postal patrons, but individuals and businesses adapted.
Gina Dicenzo, dry cleaning manager at Fashion Cleaners at 3031 Leavenworth St., said the loss of a post office a few doors away created a little added cost to the business. A courier now drives 1.5 miles to the main post office downtown or about two miles to the Saddle Creek station to deliver packages for shipment.
In Alvo, a Cass County village of 140 east of Lincoln, people were not happy when their local post office closed four months ago, said Ryan Anderson, village board chairman.
“The post office building was run down and nothing to look at, but it was the only open business in town. It was the only place in town to congregate,'' he said. “That was the worst part of” losing it.
Villagers lost post office boxes and P.O. box addresses. They were required to put up curbside mailboxes and switch to street addresses for home delivery. A carrier from nearby Eagle, Neb., delivers mail to Alvo's 60-some houses.
“It didn't turn out too bad,'' Anderson said. “It's a little more convenient for people to walk a few steps out of their house and get their mail, but there's been a lot of mail delivered to wrong addresses.''
In its most recent annual report, the agency said its existing network of post offices is expensive to maintain and neither profitable nor convenient.
The postal service hopes to reduce costs and enhance revenue by shifting retail locations from brick-and-mortar post offices to kiosks and retail partners in existing high-profile shopping areas.
Veto said the prime targets for closings will be deficit-running post offices in areas where there are other nearby stations, branches, contract stations, private businesses or other places to buy stamps or mail letters and packages.
Nearly four of five Americans surveyed were not concerned about closing post offices if postal services were available at other retail locations, the agency says.
Money-losing post offices in locations where there are no other places for people to get postal services probably would survive the closings, Veto said.
The Postal Service has cut staff by a third in the past decade, raised rates and cut services to deal with financial woes. Mail volume declined 12.8 percent in 2009 and 3.5 percent more in 2010. Projections show continued declines through this decade.
The latest process to identify and close financially weak post offices will take six months to a year, Veto said.
“How we get to that 2,000 (post offices to close) is a long process, and we hope to start immediately.''
Contact the writer:
402-444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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