The purpose of this site is to provide information and
advocacy tools to residents of the 179 rural Arkansas communities whose post
offices are on the list of facilities the U.S. Postal Service is considering
closing. The site is provided by Rural Community Alliance, a state
wide non-profit organization whose purpose is “helping rural schools and
communities survive and thrive.” www.thenewrural.org
May 9,2012 -
FURTHER ACTION ON POST OFFICE CLOSURES PUT ON HOLD UNTIL MAY! (Dec. 24, 2011)
UPDATE FROM ACTIVIST KATHY HENTHORNE (Nov. 22, 2011): Just heard yesterday that Oakland is off the list; attended Vendor and Peel last week. Good crowds and good questions. Peel is in a unique situation; Ark residents living across the lake receive their mail at their home from Missouri but must have a PO box at Peel for drivers license, etc. Oakland may be in a similar situation. Everything is hold now until Jan 2; Everton has not received their final determination posting, so that's good. Congress has heard rural America's Roar.
Click on "Tool Kit" (right) for tools to help save your post office. New Post (at right): Oct. 2011 status list for all PO's on study list.
Thanks to Rural School and Community Trust staffer Page McCullough for this article on closing rural post offices and rural schools: http://www.alamogordonews.com/alamogordo-opinion/ci_19249774
Cong. Rick Crawford and Sen. John Boozman sponsor legislation to limit rural post office closures:
Click here: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/Interim%20Study%20Proposal%20and%20Resolution/IR-2011-005.PDF
to read a resolution passed by Arkansas legislators requesting a representative to appear before the Legislative Council to explaing why so many rural post offices are targeted for closure.
Copy and paste this link to watch a video of a Sherrill, AR, resident talking about the need for a local post office in his community: http://youtu.be/fscCH6GEars
NEW ISSUES RAISED AT HASTY MEETING. October 17, 2011. SEE NEW POST ABOUT HASTY MEETING UNDER TOOL KIT (menu at right).
NEWS FLASH: October 14, 2011. There is some action in Congress to save rural post offices. SEE NEW POST UNDER TOOL KIT (menu at right). However, it's not enough. We have to save rural post offices AND save the quality of our mail service by stopping the closure of processing plants. We need Congress to remove the unnecessary burden of excess pension plan payments so the Postal Service is not crippled financially by this unreasonable requirement. READ THE NEW POST AND THE INFORMATION BELOW. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN.
Update: See bottom of page for article explaining how the whole "crisis" in the Postal Service has been manufactured to serve the agenda of privatizing this quasi-governmental service. Read how slashing the number of post offices and distribution centers to save an infinitesimal percentage of the USPS budget will virtually do away with first-class mail. First our industries, then main street businesses and our schools, now our most relied-on government service--how much more can wrongheaded actions by our government damage rural America before we become a third-world country?
Go to "History and Opinion" page for documentation of how the USPS manipulates post office closings.
Passage of HR1351 Would Save Jobs and Post Offices
From arkansasonline.com September 28:
U.S. mail workers urge act’s passage
Lawmaker’s office draws rally in LR
By Aprille Hanson
LITTLE ROCK -- LITTLE ROCK — More than 50 postal workers and union supporters held a rally on the sidewalk and in the median near U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin’s North University Avenue office in Little Rock on Tuesday, chanting “Pass 1351, Get ’er done.”
Signs reading “Save America’s Postal Service” were raised high as motorists honked in support.
The rally was one of hundreds held throughout the United States — and four in Arkansas — as part of a national effort by postal unions to drum up support for HR1351, also known as the United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011.
“There’s no reason for the post office to go to five-day delivery,” said David Anderson, a U.S. Postal Service employee since 1984 and president of the state Association of Letter Carriers. “There’s no reason to close all these post offices.”
The bill, introduced in April, will give the Postal Service access to funds it has overpaid to the Civil Service Retirement Fund since 1970, Anderson said, adding that the U.S. Postal Service has overpaid the retirement fund between $55 billion and $75 billion.
So far, there are 216 cosponsors of the bill, including Rep. Mike Ross, who represents Arkansas’ 4th District. Griffin and Arkansas’ other two Republican congressmen, Rick Crawford and Steve Womack, have not signed on as cosponsors.
Anderson, who met with the three congressmen a few weeks ago in Washington, said they did not seem willing to support the bill.
“We’re dealing with three freshman congressmen and it’s not surprising they chose the ‘wait-and-see’ attitude,” Anderson said.
No one from Griffin’s office attended the rally. Spokesman Jonathan Samford said in an e-mail, “Our office did not receive an invitation to speak with the postal unions, but Congressman Griffin would welcome the opportunity to discuss the challenges facing the Postal Service with them.”
Anita Lewallen, branch president of the National Association of Letter Carriers in Conway, said “I called them on Friday reminding them that we were looking for his support ... I invited him to be out here and he obviously chose not to.”
Rally members delivered about 300 signatures of support to Griffin’s office, where they met with Ashley Golleher, Griffin’s district representative.
Lewallen described the meeting as “productive.”
In an e-mail, Griffin said, “Given that the USPS will lose a record $10 billion this year, I am looking closely at the various post office reform proposals. Fundamental reform, not a taxpayer-funded bailout, is required to keep the USPS functional and able to provide vital services to Arkansans and all Americans.”
Dan Versluis, the regional administrative assistant to the National Association of Letter Carriers, said the “the letter and mail carriers are the eyes and ears of the community,” and have not received public tax dollars in 30 years.
“We’ve got some big problems with the Postal Service through no fault of our own,” Versluis said. “Everyone thinks taxes, taxes, taxes ... Stick a stamp on a letter, that’s our paycheck.”
Ricky Belk, the secretarytreasurer of the Arkansas AFL-CIO said the proposed legislation is an opportunity for Congress to be “a part of the solution, not the problem.”
“At a time when we have elected officials saying we need to create jobs, this is an instance to keep the jobs we have,” Belk said.
In January, the U.S. Postal Service said it intended to close or merge 2,000 post offices by 2012 because of an economic downturn as a result of a “drastic decline in mail volume,” according to a June article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Other money-saving methods such as five-day delivery would eliminate 80,000 positions across the United States, Anderson said.
An estimated $9 billion is expected in losses for the U.S. Postal Service this year.
However, Anderson said it is not from technological advances putting “snail mail” in a financial hole, but rather a congressional mandate that the Postal Service prefund retiree health benefits.
The agency is required to prefund 75 years’ worth of future retiree health benefits within 10 years.
According to saveamericaspostalservice.com, so far $47 billion has been deposited into the health-benefits fund.
Local postal union officials said if they had access to the overpaid funds, the Postal Service would not be in financial straits.
“We’re funding retirement and health benefits for people that haven’t been born,” said Lewallen.
Annual advance payments to the account are required and the agency must pay $5.5 billion by Friday.
Though the bill does not eliminate the mandate, it will provide a way for the Postal Service to provide the payment without having to close post offices and cut services, Anderson said.
Carol Schneider, who’s been a postal worker for 30 years and served as a postmaster for Fox and Carlisle, said a post office is a rural community’s identity.
“I still use snail mail so this affects me as much as anyone who uses mail,” Schneider said. “It’s important to the country and it’s important to make a stand.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/01/1021897/-USPS:-Vultures-Roosting-in-the-Eagles-Nest
May 9,2012 -
GOOD NEWS ON SAVING OUR RURAL POST OFFICES
Today, May 9, the Postmaster General issued a press release saying that rural post offices will remain open, but retail hours will be reduced in order to cut costs. Read the Postmaster General’s press release on our website:
The release includes a list of rural post offices (by state and ZIP code) with their current hours and proposed reduced hours. We have yet to determine whether there will be an appeal process on the reduced hours.
CONGRESSMAN RICK CRAWFORD REQUESTS TIME FOR HOUSE TO ACT ON POST OFFICE ISSUE
This letter from Congressman Crawford was sent on May 4. We appreciate his efforts and all of Arkansas’ congressional delegation for going to bat for their rural constituents.
http://thenewrural.org/
TODAY’S NEW YORK TIMES HAS STORY ABOUT RCA’S WORK TO HELP COMMUNITIES FIGHT POST OFFICE CLOSINGS IN ARKANSAS (January 5, 2012)
The week after Christmas, New York Times reporter Campbell Robertson contacted RCA and visited several of our communities and interviewed people who have fought the proposed closing of their local post office. His story is in the print version of the New York Times today, January 5 (Section A, Page 12). Here is a link to the online storyhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/
In late July the U.S. Postal Service “dropped the bomb” on rural communities across Arkansas and the entire country with their plan to close over 3,500 post offices. Our staff and members across Arkansas mobilized immediately. A member in west Arkansas requested that RCA put up a website devoted to providing rural Arkansans information that would help them wage their fight. Lavina tackled that immediately and threw up a quick website that has a wealth of useful information http://
Dorothy has worked with several Delta communities helping in their response. She had a vinyl banner printed, announcing the public meeting that was used at Sherrill, Wabbaseka, and Humnoke then sent north to Fox and then west to Tilly. She organized several mailings to residents. Renee worked in several Ozarks communities and produced a YouTube video with Fox residents talking about the importance of the post officehttp://www.youtube.com/user/
As a result of the grassroots activity of our members and others across Arkansas, Senator Boozman and Representative Crawford have introduced companion bills that would lessen the impact of post office closings by imposing a distance limit. Please offer them your support in getting these bills passed.
But we didn’t accomplish all this by ourselves. We were fortunate to partner with retired postmasters across Arkansas and benefitted from their passion and knowledge. The national publicity we received from our efforts stemmed from a phone call from Suphatra Laviolette at the Marguerite Casey Foundation in September that led to a story by Casey’s Equal Voice Newspaper reporter Kathy Mulady.
Kathy Mulady from Seattle and photographer Jared Soares from Virginia paid us a visit in September and we did a whirlwind tour, attending an official post office meeting in Lambrook (Phillips County), and Kathy interviewed local people from Lambrook, Sherrill, Humnoke, Wabbaseka, and Fox. Equal Voice Newspaper published two of Kathy’s stories, Return to Sender http://www.
We thank each of you for your support of rural Arkansas and encourage you to contact us if we can be of assistance in issues that impact families and rural Arkansans. We know the work will be strengthened by joining forces with those who truly care about rural Arkansas.
Renee Carr, CPA, MSCED
Executive Director
Rural Community Alliance
carr@thenewrural.org
FURTHER ACTION ON POST OFFICE CLOSURES PUT ON HOLD UNTIL MAY! (Dec. 24, 2011)
The outcry from rural people across America, who organized, advocated, and contacted their congressional leaders has been heard. In a press release the USPS announced on Tuesday that post office closings will be put on hold until May 15, 2012 to allow Congress to pass legislation to address the system-wide financial problems. Thank you for doing your part in contacting our Arkansas congressmen. They certainly heard your voice, with two of them, Representative Crawford and Senator Boozman, sponsoring bills to lessen the impact on rural post offices. Thank you to all of Arkansas’ congressional delegation for listening to constituents’ concerns.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION REMANDS CLOSURE OF MONROE, AR, POST OFFICE FOR FURTHER STUDY (Dec. 5, 2011) Apparently the PRC found that the USPS did not address distance to next Post Office and possibly failed to advertise for the vacant position of post master, for which the USPS claimed they "could not" find a replacement. For people facing an appeal, you might find it helpful to see the appeal and ruling at www.prc.gov/Docs/77/77882/Order982.pdf UPDATE FROM ACTIVIST KATHY HENTHORNE (Nov. 22, 2011): Just heard yesterday that Oakland is off the list; attended Vendor and Peel last week. Good crowds and good questions. Peel is in a unique situation; Ark residents living across the lake receive their mail at their home from Missouri but must have a PO box at Peel for drivers license, etc. Oakland may be in a similar situation. Everything is hold now until Jan 2; Everton has not received their final determination posting, so that's good. Congress has heard rural America's Roar.
Click on "Tool Kit" (right) for tools to help save your post office. New Post (at right): Oct. 2011 status list for all PO's on study list.
Thanks to Rural School and Community Trust staffer Page McCullough for this article on closing rural post offices and rural schools: http://www.alamogordonews.com/alamogordo-opinion/ci_19249774
H.R.
3370: Protecting Our Rural Post Offices Act of 2011 Fact Sheet
·
In
July 2011, the USPS announced it was considering the closure of 3,652 retail
postal facilities1.
o At the end of FY2010, there were 35,633 retail postal facilities in the
United States1.
·
While
the USPS is a self-serving entity, the U.S Congress requires the USPS to serve
the public as a whole:
o "The Postal Service shall provide a
maximum degree of effective and regular postal services to rural areas,
communities, and small towns where post offices are not self-sustaining. No
small post office shall be closed solely for operating at a deficit, it being
the specific intent of the Congress that effective postal services be insured
to residents of both urban and rural communities" (39 U.S.C. 101(b))1.
·
Despite
laws put in place to protect rural post offices, rural communities have been
overwhelmingly targeted for closings.
o In Arkansas 211 post offices have been targeted for closure2.
§ 100 of which fall in the 1st District2.
·
If you were to spread post office closures
evenly amongst every Congressional District, you would need to close roughly 8
per district to reach the USPS’ goal of 3,652 offices.
o There is nothing fair about the USPS’s
current method for closing post offices and rural Americans are being burdened
with the majority of these closures.
·
H.R. 3370 would prevent the USPS from closing any
post office that does not have an alternate post office within 8 miles as
measured by year-round roads.
o Rural roads are rarely straight from town
to town and while a post office may be within a 10 mile distance as the crow
flies, by no means does that mean that the post office is within 10 miles
driving. This legislation would only use the actual driving distance between
post offices to determine whether a post office is eligible for closing.
·
The
USPS ran an estimated deficit of nearly $10 billion in FY2010 and there is a
clear need for serious reform to cut costs to avoid a taxpayer bailout3.
o This legislation does not hinder the
USPS’s ability to address its unsustainable labor costs and can be seen as a
companion to postal reform legislation that ensure that reform does not come
solely on the backs of rural Americans.
o The real source of the USPS’ long term
debt is soaring labor costs that make up 80%
of their total costs3. This must be addressed.
§ If the USPS were to close all of the
proposed 3,653 post offices it would only result in a savings of $200 million
per year1. This will do little to rectify the USPS’s astronomical
deficit which was approximately $10.8 billion in FY2011.
o
As
revenue continues to decline, there is a clear need to downsize the USPS. H.R.
3370 will ensure that the USPS takes a balanced and fair approach to cutting
costs.
1. Kosar, Kevin R., Analyst in American National Government for the
Congressional Research Service. “The
U.S. Postal Service: Common Questions About Post Office Closures.” August
4,2011. http://www.crs.gov/pages/Reports.aspx?PRODCODE=R41950&Source=search
2. Prov: Cathy Pagano, United States Postal Service, Arkansas Study List
3. Kosar, Kevin R., Analyst in American National Government for the
Congressional Research Service. “The
U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress.”
August 4,2011. http://www.crs.gov/pages/Reports.aspx?PRODCODE=R41024&Source=search
Click here: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/Interim%20Study%20Proposal%20and%20Resolution/IR-2011-005.PDF
to read a resolution passed by Arkansas legislators requesting a representative to appear before the Legislative Council to explaing why so many rural post offices are targeted for closure.
Copy and paste this link to watch a video of a Sherrill, AR, resident talking about the need for a local post office in his community: http://youtu.be/fscCH6GEars
NEW ISSUES RAISED AT HASTY MEETING. October 17, 2011. SEE NEW POST ABOUT HASTY MEETING UNDER TOOL KIT (menu at right).
NEWS FLASH: October 14, 2011. There is some action in Congress to save rural post offices. SEE NEW POST UNDER TOOL KIT (menu at right). However, it's not enough. We have to save rural post offices AND save the quality of our mail service by stopping the closure of processing plants. We need Congress to remove the unnecessary burden of excess pension plan payments so the Postal Service is not crippled financially by this unreasonable requirement. READ THE NEW POST AND THE INFORMATION BELOW. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN.
Update: See bottom of page for article explaining how the whole "crisis" in the Postal Service has been manufactured to serve the agenda of privatizing this quasi-governmental service. Read how slashing the number of post offices and distribution centers to save an infinitesimal percentage of the USPS budget will virtually do away with first-class mail. First our industries, then main street businesses and our schools, now our most relied-on government service--how much more can wrongheaded actions by our government damage rural America before we become a third-world country?
Go to "History and Opinion" page for documentation of how the USPS manipulates post office closings.
Passage of HR1351 Would Save Jobs and Post Offices
From arkansasonline.com September 28:
U.S. mail workers urge act’s passage
Lawmaker’s office draws rally in LR
By Aprille Hanson
LITTLE ROCK -- LITTLE ROCK — More than 50 postal workers and union supporters held a rally on the sidewalk and in the median near U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin’s North University Avenue office in Little Rock on Tuesday, chanting “Pass 1351, Get ’er done.”
Signs reading “Save America’s Postal Service” were raised high as motorists honked in support.
The rally was one of hundreds held throughout the United States — and four in Arkansas — as part of a national effort by postal unions to drum up support for HR1351, also known as the United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011.
“There’s no reason for the post office to go to five-day delivery,” said David Anderson, a U.S. Postal Service employee since 1984 and president of the state Association of Letter Carriers. “There’s no reason to close all these post offices.”
The bill, introduced in April, will give the Postal Service access to funds it has overpaid to the Civil Service Retirement Fund since 1970, Anderson said, adding that the U.S. Postal Service has overpaid the retirement fund between $55 billion and $75 billion.
So far, there are 216 cosponsors of the bill, including Rep. Mike Ross, who represents Arkansas’ 4th District. Griffin and Arkansas’ other two Republican congressmen, Rick Crawford and Steve Womack, have not signed on as cosponsors.
Anderson, who met with the three congressmen a few weeks ago in Washington, said they did not seem willing to support the bill.
“We’re dealing with three freshman congressmen and it’s not surprising they chose the ‘wait-and-see’ attitude,” Anderson said.
No one from Griffin’s office attended the rally. Spokesman Jonathan Samford said in an e-mail, “Our office did not receive an invitation to speak with the postal unions, but Congressman Griffin would welcome the opportunity to discuss the challenges facing the Postal Service with them.”
Anita Lewallen, branch president of the National Association of Letter Carriers in Conway, said “I called them on Friday reminding them that we were looking for his support ... I invited him to be out here and he obviously chose not to.”
Rally members delivered about 300 signatures of support to Griffin’s office, where they met with Ashley Golleher, Griffin’s district representative.
Lewallen described the meeting as “productive.”
In an e-mail, Griffin said, “Given that the USPS will lose a record $10 billion this year, I am looking closely at the various post office reform proposals. Fundamental reform, not a taxpayer-funded bailout, is required to keep the USPS functional and able to provide vital services to Arkansans and all Americans.”
Dan Versluis, the regional administrative assistant to the National Association of Letter Carriers, said the “the letter and mail carriers are the eyes and ears of the community,” and have not received public tax dollars in 30 years.
“We’ve got some big problems with the Postal Service through no fault of our own,” Versluis said. “Everyone thinks taxes, taxes, taxes ... Stick a stamp on a letter, that’s our paycheck.”
Ricky Belk, the secretarytreasurer of the Arkansas AFL-CIO said the proposed legislation is an opportunity for Congress to be “a part of the solution, not the problem.”
“At a time when we have elected officials saying we need to create jobs, this is an instance to keep the jobs we have,” Belk said.
In January, the U.S. Postal Service said it intended to close or merge 2,000 post offices by 2012 because of an economic downturn as a result of a “drastic decline in mail volume,” according to a June article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Other money-saving methods such as five-day delivery would eliminate 80,000 positions across the United States, Anderson said.
An estimated $9 billion is expected in losses for the U.S. Postal Service this year.
However, Anderson said it is not from technological advances putting “snail mail” in a financial hole, but rather a congressional mandate that the Postal Service prefund retiree health benefits.
The agency is required to prefund 75 years’ worth of future retiree health benefits within 10 years.
According to saveamericaspostalservice.com, so far $47 billion has been deposited into the health-benefits fund.
Local postal union officials said if they had access to the overpaid funds, the Postal Service would not be in financial straits.
“We’re funding retirement and health benefits for people that haven’t been born,” said Lewallen.
Annual advance payments to the account are required and the agency must pay $5.5 billion by Friday.
Though the bill does not eliminate the mandate, it will provide a way for the Postal Service to provide the payment without having to close post offices and cut services, Anderson said.
Carol Schneider, who’s been a postal worker for 30 years and served as a postmaster for Fox and Carlisle, said a post office is a rural community’s identity.
“I still use snail mail so this affects me as much as anyone who uses mail,” Schneider said. “It’s important to the country and it’s important to make a stand.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/01/1021897/-USPS:-Vultures-Roosting-in-the-Eagles-Nest
