Recent widespread press reports and public outcry about supposed plans to close 3,000 post offices were a misunderstanding, U.S. Postal Service officials said today.
The trouble started when USPS gave the Postal Regulatory Commission a list of about 3200 stations and branches that would be part of a study of which facilities to discontinue, the Postal Service said in a PRC filing today.
"Public interest was heightened when customers and the press together assumed this meant the Postal Service was planning to close all 3200 offices despite postal assurances to the contrary," the document said. "The results, especially when well under 200 offices ultimately faced discontinuance, caused unnecessary concern and confusion for postal customers and their communities, and were harmful from public relations and customer goodwill perspectives."
Postal officials provided the PRC today a list of 356 postal facilities where service has been suspended. But it asked the PRC to keep the list of post offices, stations, and branches secret for now to avoid another round of public confusion.
"Of course, any facility formally proposed for discontinuance also becomes a matter of public knowledge amongst its customers, the USPS filing said. "All suspended retail facilities that undergo the discontinuance process will be the object of local attention very soon thereafter."
Other recent articles about Postal Service downsizing include:
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