Haven't heard anything about it. How would I find out?

I have no idea what offices in this area are closing, but it would make a lot of sense, to me, to 'thin the herd' a bit.

Our mail is no longer delivered from the local offices--the mail carriers all work out of one central location, so that's not an issue.

Within 3 miles of my front door, I can think of at least: 8 offices (I actually think there are more, but I never go into the city to the west of us). That's because towns around here are very small, and most have their own post office. Now, really, it might be convenient to have a PO within walking distance of your home, but is it strictly necessary? If I had to guess, I'd imagine the closest one to me would probably be one of the ones closing--I'll miss the convenience, but certainly have plenty of other options.

My sister works for the PO--she says their volume is way, way down these days. It stands to reason that it makes good business sense to cut expenses where possible.

Bump, I haven't found a "list" of those that are, or potentially, closing. I don't know if one has been publicized yet. But on the news clip it said that the closings would be starting in March, so I would think that we should be able to access the list..... somewhere/some how.

Here's a potential downside... We were trying out our new GPS and I tried to locate Lac La Belle, MI (which is 25 miles or so from us). GPS couldn't find it. Later on, I talked with a friend who lives there and he said that GPS won't work for Lac La Belle because Lac La Belle doesn't have a post office. They get their mail from the Mowhawk, MI post office. He said that the GPS company (Garmin in this case) is willing to add towns without post offices to their system, but for a fee. I don't know whether this is true or not, but it's what I was told.

I just Googled post office closings - the ABC News "The Newser" blogsite, about 4 down on the list, has an old listing with a link to PO's under review of closing. It's a PDF file so can't cut and paste.

i love our store front po...hate the big ones, sigh... but it might be hit as the other 2 are very close to commercial buildings...

I'm sure there's a lot of waste that could be eliminated in the postal service - closing underperforming PO's would make sense as long as there was another one within a reasonable distance. But I wouldn't complain if they raised rates for first class mail. I honestly think our rates are a bargain, especially compared to other countries.

I checked that list (thanks, Duluth) and found nothing nearby. A Scranton area PO was on the list, though, and I was surprised, as I thought that one would be rather busy.

I'm so glad we have rural delivery here. I conduct almost all my PO business through my (big) mailbox: mail packages, order stamps, etc.

This list is dated today and was at the Wall Street Journal website. I'm not sure if it's the same one mentioned above.

Here is a link that might be useful: WSJ List of Post Offices

Only one in WA state, Washtucna, population 260 in 2000.

I can see closing that one down, hardly seems worth it for that tiny population.

Tobygirl, your list looks more complete. But the odd thing is it doesn't mention Dickson City, the Scranton area PO mentioned in the first list.

I hope they don't close the one closest to us- it's 4.5 miles away (population 89) and the next one is 8, or 11 miles, depending on which way we turn.

According to tobygirl's link, we're OK, though, phew!

Thanks Tobygirl for the link! Apparently none of our nearby p.o.'s is on the closure list. That tells me that there is a lot of "fat" that could be trimmed to get within their budget. Of course there will be downsides & people affected, but $8Billion is an awfully big hole.

Our local PO will stay open, but it's a processing center for the whole county, and they want to close that part of it and move the jobs to San Jose, 60 miles away. About 60 people will either have long commutes or no jobs. :-(

Maybe if the ran it like a business, quit borrowing money from the gov. improved service at the windows, they would not be in this fix. Too many of the larger ones have one or two clerks avaiable all day, and need at least one more noon time and late afternoon.

Might as well close down a bunch of them. Won't bother me a bit. They're not producing, they shouldn't be open. No legitimate business operates that way. And they're paying for a postmaster and other duplicate staffing to keep open small operations. Might as well consolidate. It only makes sense but they way they seem to operate that explains why it's not done.

I do as much online as I can and have cut postal costs to the bone. I buy stamps at the grocery store. Why should I stand in line at a post office watching 3 people in back leaning on a wall doing nothing when I can buy stamps at the service desk or from a machine without the long wait? Volume down over 10% and $7 Billion loss last year alone? It's crazy.

The other thing that needs work is school districts. They should consolidate smaller districts. It's ridiculous to be paying all the duplicated staff. Paying for a superintendent, asst. superintendent, and other staff for each district when they could easily consolidate some of the small districts into one and also give them some buying power for discounts. But that's another thread.

And remember folks, as they stressed, just because an office is on the list does *not* mean it's closing, and just because an office is *not* on the list does *not* mean that it's *not* closing either. It's a potential list, subject to change.

Our small post office wasn't closed, recently ... but it was moved to a different location.

A small group of houses at a crossroads near here just had a group box installed and no longer get delivery to their rural mailboxes beside their houses.

There have been noises lately about the risks involved with rural carriers stopping and starting at individual boxes in the country, so I have a feeling that our days of having a mail box accessible at the end of our lane are numbered.

Riding a bike (which I don't have) to a group box a couple of miles away, that I have to open with a key while battling snow (both falling, sometimes being propelled by the wind, as it was yesterday, travelling nearly horizontally on its way to the ground, or having been piled by the wind into a drift under my feet) ... is not exactly this old fuddy-duddy's idea of a good time.

ole joyful

I guess it is just a sign of things to come, it's inevitable. There is so much waste in the government. But I think it is sad to see some of the smaller, rural sites closed. One of our cousins is the postmistress at a little office and she knows everyone by name. If someone doesn't come in for a few days she goes to check on them, who is going to do that once she retires? She was already told that when she does so in 3 years that they will close it down.