Post offices get brief reprieve
Enquirer – Congress and the U.S. Postal Service have agreed to a moratorium on any post office or postal facility closing until May 15 in order to allow Congress time to enact comprehensive legislation overhauling the nation’s financially insolvent mail delivery system.
The agreement was reached on Tuesday between a group of Democratic senators, U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahue and U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Thurgood Marshall Jr.
Ten mail processing centers and 120 post offices across Ohio — including the processing center on Dalton Avenue in the West End and post offices in Hamilton (College Hill) and Clermont (Chilo and Neville) counties — were among the hundreds of facilities nationwide that the postal service announced it was considering for closure. But even before Tuesday’s agreement, postal officials had said no final decisions would be made until spring.
That didn’t stop members of Congress from declaring victory.
“This moratorium is a win for Ohio consumers, Ohio business, and Ohio workers,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a statement Tuesday. “Though the postal service faces serious challenges, this will provide time to reach a solution that will strengthen the USPS, instead of crippling it.”
