Several Southeast Missouri post offices being studied for closure

The U.S. Postal Service is studying the potential closure of 3,700 post offices across the country in an effort to "right-size" its retail network.

Local post offices in the study announced Wednesday are Blodgett, Brownwood, Daisy, Dutchtown, Gipsy, Old Appleton, Perkins, Sturdivant, Vanduser and Whitewater.

More postal customers are choosing to conduct postal business online on their smartphones reducing the need for the postal service to maintain its 32,000 physical post office locations, according to a USPS news release.

The post offices being studied are considered "low activity," meaning they have low revenue, little foot traffic and small workloads. Most are in rural areas.

USPS will study examine the effects closing a post office would have on the community it serves, the employees of the facility, compliance with government policy to provide postal service in rural areas, and economic savings.

A timeline for final closure decisions is yet to be announced, but will happen only after community input has been received, according to USPS.

For communities that don't have a retail post office or those that may be affected by the reduction in retail outlets, USPS unveiled a new village post office concept Wednesday as a potential replacement option.

Village post offices would be operated by local businesses, such as pharmacies or grocery stores, and offer postal products and services including stamps and flat-rate packaging.

USPS receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on revenue from products and services to fund its operations.

Over the past five years, the mail volume has declined by 43.1 billion pieces, according to USPS.

There are 200 million fewer customer visits to post offices and retail transactions have declined by $2 billion.

Residents and businesses served by a post office will be given 60 days notice of a proposed closure so they may provide comment. After public comments are received, a final decision will be made in writing and include the study findings on which the closure is based. Residents and businesses will then be given a 60 day notice before the closure takes place. Within the first 30 days after a final closure is announced, any person served by that post office bay appeal the decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

For more information, visit http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.