Rural America is facing something of a crisis in reduced services and close post offices. There is nothing new in history concerning the closing of post offices. A familiar history of Monroe County, Illinois called Arrowheads to Aerojets documents the opening and closing of post offices in that little county. Recently a small community in our county had their post office closed. I had used that little post office in the past and the service was excellent. After January 1 a number of other post offices face closure.
I continue to use the postal service to ship soil samples because of the convenience of having shipping points all over and also because of the competetive rates offered by flat rate boxes. Yes UPS and FEDX provide excellent service as well, but I hate to have to call for pickup and face an extra charge. It seems to me that postal service needs someone to look closely at how to continue to provide its service in a business like manner. The Citizens of the United States are it's stockholders. Just like any other business, the Postal Service needs to find a way to keep our shipping and first class mail moving. It is an amazing bargain to think that you can put an envelop in a mailbox and have it shipped all over the country for $.44. It would be a bargain at twice the price. Maybe we will be paying twice the price if the Postal Service is privatized. What would Ben Franklin think?
I feel the same way. A letter is a bargain at twice the price and if we have to pay that I am afraid we will still lose a lot of offices and service centers and jobs and service. I wrote a blog on the same thing this fall. I also use the Post Office for everything as UPS shipping is a hassle for me and the Martinsville Post Office is one mile away. Another great US invention, Rural Free Delivery will soon be gone or mangled due to mismanagement.
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