The Letter

The United States Postal Service (USPS) on Tuesday [July 26] named 3,700 post offices across the country that could be closed in the near future. The move is the largest downsizing in the agency’s history and potentially threatens the jobs of 4,500 postal clerks, postmasters, station managers and supervisors.

Postal officials say they intend to review half of their network of 32,000 local post offices over the next decade, and aim to save $200 million a year though slashing labor and other operating costs. In a press release, USPS officials blame the move on customers shifting to online sales and cutting back on “snail mail” in favor of electronic communication.

The USPS, an independent agency of the executive branch of the US government since 1971, is expected to lose $8 billion this year for the second year in a row. The agency has received no federal funding since the 1980s, with a few exceptions, and relies solely on money raised through the sale of postage and other products and services.
~ from 3,700 US Post Offices Targeted for Closure by Kate Randall ~

From 1792 to 1971, USPS was a cabinet-level department of the federal government. However, after postal workers went on strike in 1970 due to poor wages, a new plan was hatched to make it an independent agency. You see, even as far back as 1970, this idea that it is more important for government to turn a profit than serve the public was afoot.

As Randall points out,

The postal service is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the US Constitution, guaranteeing mail delivery to every household in the US at a uniform cost. The postal service has long been a target of politicians of both big-business parties, who would like to see its monopoly on mail delivery thoroughly busted up and handed over to the “free market.” One result of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 was to open up a portion of postal operations to private companies such as FedEx and UPS.

While Randall's article focuses more on the labor aspects -- this certainly is an important part of the puzzle -- my worry is more about the character of small towns and rural America.

Like schools, the local post office serves a very important role out here in the hinterlands. Not only is it a place to pickup and send out mail, but people can get passports, read important area announcements on the bulletin board and socialize with neighbors. Our local postal clerks are something akin to bartenders; you can pour out your troubles or catch up on the latest gossip.

As small school districts consolidate and post offices are closed, these two dramatic changes could spell the death knell for many small communities across the nation. The lack of services will force residents into more urban areas where the struggle to survive will become more desperate and cutthroat as the many fight for the jobs and services that are growing too few.

Soon, we may have huddled masses in urban tenements not so different than a Charles Dickens' novel. This is where profits at all costs and austerity are leading to.