More Layoffs : USPS may close 1,000 post offices

The U.S. Postal Service is studying roughly 1,000 of its 37,000 post offices for possible closure — the latest cost-cutting step from an agency scrambling to deal with a projected $7 billion deficit this year and larger losses in 2010.

The agency started its review earlier this year with approximately 3,200 post offices, and decided about 1,000 of them are “candidates for further review.” Postal managers say they will consider several factors in deciding whether to close those facilities: mail volume, proximity to other post offices and the potential savings in labor and utility costs.

Post offices generate about 71 percent of the Postal Service’s revenues each year; the rest comes through alternative channels, particularly the Postal Service’s Web site.
“Each year more and more postal transactions are now accomplished online,” said Jordan Small, the Postal Service’s acting vice president for network operations. “We consider this a success ... [but we need] to determine if there is, indeed, excess capacity in the network.”Full Story