LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
NEW YORK STATE BRANCH
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POSTMASTERS
Position Papers Links:
Other Legislative Links:
Action Needed to Oppose Efforts to Close Small Rural Post Offices.
Status: Urgent.
Issue: Fresh efforts are underway in Congress to close small rural post offices. These efforts encompass not only eliminating existing statutory protections against closing small rural post offices solely for operating at a deficit, but also eliminating the Postal Service’s statutory mandate to provide a maximum degree of effective and regular postal services to rural areas, communities, and small towns where post offices are not
self-sustaining. There is also talk of a post office closing Commission, designed to close thousands of post offices. These efforts tend to focus on post offices as retail facilities and generally ignore the role post offices play in the distribution system. League Position: The League strongly opposes these efforts.
Action Requested:
1. Recruit Local Civic Leaders to contact your Congressman and Senators and urge them to oppose efforts to close small rural post offices. Please have your local leaders—such as County Commissioners, Mayors, Council Members, Community Development Chairs, Small Business leaders, etc.—explain why small rural post offices are critical to the economic, cultural, and social well being of your rural community. Please have them explain all that small rural post offices do beyond the mere provision of postal services. Having hundreds or even thousands of
government bodies passing resolutions that oppose closing their local post offices would be most helpful. Send them to you Congressmen and Senators.
2. Add your voice to those contacts going to your Congressman and Senators opposing the closing of small post offices. Facts and Arguments: The cost of all small rural Post Offices is roughly seven-tenths of one percent (7/10s of 1 percent) of the Postal Service’s budget. You and your
leaders know why your post offices are important to the community. Please have them tell Congress, and have them do so very loud, very clear, and very soon. See our League Position Paper for further information and talking points.
Talking Points for Communities
Opposed to Closing Small Rural Post Offices
Facts
• The Postal Service has embarked on a massive drive to close rural post offices, mostly small rural post offices. More than 3600 are on the chopping block this year and 12,000 additional small post offices stand ready to be closed in the next several years.
• The Postal Service operates without any tax dollars. All income is from postage. Thus the closing of small post offices has no effect on federal tax revenues/government spending, or the federal deficit.
• If the Postal Service were to close the smallest 10,000 post offices, it would only save 7/10s of one percent of its revenue. Thus closing small post offices has no appreciable effect on postal revenues and thus no effect on the Postal Service’s current financial challenges.
• All of these statements are based on recent data from the Postal Regulatory Commission. See www.prc.gov as well as www.postmasters.org.
Challenges
• Only Congress can stop this. It is up to local government officials and leaders to explain the devastating effect that closing their post office will have on their community. Some Congressmen and Senators do not understand this, and think that closing a rural post office will have no seriously negative effect on a community so long as the community continues to receive mail service.
• While postmasters have explained this, some in Congress have discounted their views, suggesting that the fear of losing their jobs have motivated postmasters to distort the truth. Thus community leaders and local community officials need to show Congress otherwise, and explain why closing their post offices will harm their community.
• Efforts should focus on the nonpostal effect on these communities—i.e., effect on business development, existing businesses, law enforcement, jobs, and citizens without bank accounts, computers, and cars—depending upon the circumstances of their local community.
• The “village” post office that postal officials are talking about putting, in some cases, in communities would only sell stamps, flat rate boxes and perhaps post office boxes. Nothing more. One could not send a soldier in Iraq a care package from one of these facilities. Nor could one buy a money order to pay a bill.
