The recent news that the U.S. Postal Service has begun the process of closing 2,000 post offices, begs the question — are post offices still relevant?
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. That unofficial creed has guided the U.S. Postal Service since the founding of our country. But in this age of digital communications, online bill paying and Federal Express and UPS, are physical post offices still necessary?
Harold Schutzman, of Fair Lawn, N.J., believes they are. He uses the post office often and says he has a friend who works there, plus he doesn’t like to pay online.
Despite intense customer loyalty, and delivering 24 million pieces of mail to American homes, 6 days a week, the current economic downturn may bring one of America’s oldest and most trusted institutions to an end. With a record deficit this year of $8.5 billion dollars, the postal service loses a staggering $23 million dollars a day and is facing a growing number of problems.
“They have been hit like everyone by the recession, people are mailing less and then just in general the digital revolution, we text, e-mail and pay bills online so that’s hurting mail volume,” says Jennifer Levitz of the Wall Street Journal.
Canada’s Postal Service is facing a similar cost-cutting effort.
When Canadian letter carriers went on strike three weeks ago they hoped to force the national postal service, Canada Post, to back down from a proposal to dramatically reduce wages.
Three weeks later, the letter carriers are still off work. But Canadians are now asking just how much a modern cyber-connected society needs the post office anyway. Observers say that by going on strike, postal workers have likely sealed their own fate by proving it’s possible to function without daily mail delivery.
“Many find mail in paper form to be quaint; it no longer plays a central role in society,” an editorial in a daily Canadian newspaper concluded. “The strike will only accelerate that trend by making online converts of those who have been reluctant.”
A worldwide trend toward e-mail, online banking, electronic bill payments, and communication through social media is causing a dramatic drop in revenue for the postal services around the world.
The volume of first-class mail has also dropped dramatically in the United States. The US Postal Service is set up to deliver 300 billion pieces of mail a year, but currently handles just 170 billion pieces and predicts that will fall to 150 billion by 2020. The USPS is looking to make reforms such as cutting back to five-day-a-week delivery and closing some of its post offices.
In addition to the 2,000 branches now in jeopardy, 16,000 are under review. Many folks are not going to let this go town without a fight – they say these offices are essential and part of their community.
