Branstad: Freeze postal closings

DES MOINES — Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday called for a moratorium on the closing of post offices, noting that Iowa and West Virginia are hit hardest by the U.S. Postal Service's plans to close 3,700 offices nationwide.

"As governor, I believe I have a responsibility and obligation to go to bat for those communities and for maintaining that service," Branstad said at his weekly press conference. "Not to say that some post offices can't or won't be closed, but there should be a thoughtful and systematic approach towards this; nobody will tell us what the criteria are, and the citizens are rightly upset."

Iowa could see 178 post offices closed in the plan announced last week by the U.S. Postal Service, which had a net loss of $8.5 billion in fiscal 2010. That comes after the Postal Service announced that the processing and distribution facility in Sioux City would be closed by October and the customer service mail processing center in Fort Dodge would be shut down by January.

But Richard Watkins, spokesman for the Postal Service's Des Moines-based Hawkeye District, said Monday that the Postal Service is "absolutely not" picking on Iowa.

He said that while the Postal Service knows rural communities are concerned about the potential closings, keeping all of these post offices open would be like "delivering milk bottles on the porch."

"If there's still a need for that, you could make that argument. But people are using post offices less frequently than ever," Watkins said. "The Postal Service simply has to live within our means as a non-tax-supported agency of the federal government. It would be irresponsible to do otherwise. We'll continue to match our workforce and our facilities with a declining workload."

Watkins said Iowa's nearly 900 post offices represent about 3 percent of the nation's 32,000 post offices. But according to the 2010 Census, Iowa's 3 million residents make up less than 1 percent of the nation's population. He said there's a trend of rural residents moving to more populated areas.

He also said more than half of all bills are being paid online, and the Postal Service's retail revenue has dropped $2 billion nationwide as people buy stamps and other mailing services at alternate locations such as grocery stores.

Another hard-hit state is West Virginia, where the plan calls for closing 150 post offices. In contrast, no closings are proposed for Delaware.

Branstad said a U.S. senator from Delaware has introduced a bill supported by the Postal Service. He questioned whether politics are involved.

"I think it's pretty unconscionable. They don't seem to have any plan," Branstad said of the U.S. Postal Service. "The only thing I can figure out is if you don't have a permanent postmaster, they're going to try to close your post office."

Watkins said the proposed closings of 3,700 post offices nationwide is "not a done deal." He said the Postal Service will listen to community input, and no office will be closed between now and December.

Branstad said he's working with other governors, as well as with Iowa mayors in affected communities. The governor has attended several meetings across Iowa on this matter. He said there have been a "lot more good ideas from the citizens than from the Postal Service" on how to deal with the financial problems. He also said Iowans are signing petitions and demanding to be heard.

Watkins declined to comment about Branstad's proposed moratorium. However, he said that in the past five years there have been 200 million fewer visits to local post offices nationwide. He said the Postal Service is losing $23 million a day.

In response, he said the Postal Service has cut $12 billion in costs, eliminated 130,000 positions, consolidated 12,000 delivery routes and implemented a hiring and spending freeze.

"It's not like we just woke up one day. We've been making these changes for years," Watkins said. "Right now the Postal Service is being responsible in our approach to living within our means."

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, has said he plans to take action as well. He said 62 of the post offices up for potential closing are in the 5th Congressional District in western Iowa, which he represents — though that district is being dissolved because Iowa lost one of its U.S. House seats in the 2010 Census.

A building that houses the post office in Lohrville, one of the 178 that could close in Iowa, is owned by Branstad. The governor and his wife own a dozen buildings that house post offices, including ones in Lake Mills, North English, Lohrville, Lake Park, Dunlap, Olin, Packwood, Manly, Exira, Guttenberg, Le Claire and Seymour.

« Metro/Region

Share