After asking for a five-month moratorium in December, Congress has been relatively quiet so far on how it hopes to fix the economically troubled U.S. Postal Service. The Senate was expected to begin debating postal reform legislation this week. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided instead to prioritize the STOCK Act.
Meantime, the USPS is losing $23 million per day.
“That’s our revenues versus what we spend,” says USPS spokesperson in Denver David Rupert. “So we look forward to a quick resolution to our issues.”
Rupert says that the USPS is continuing to evaluate Colorado’s 77 post offices under consideration for closure. But no action will be taken until the moratorium lifts on May 15.
Most recently, the USPS denied the appeals of five Phippsburg residents to stop the closure of their post office in Colorado. Rupert says the USPS can’t technically move forward with the closure until after the moratorium period is finished.
Out of the original list of 91 Colorado post offices proposed for closure by the USPS, 11 have been pulled from consideration. That includes the small northeastern town of New Raymer, profiled by KUNC last summer.
Meantime, four out of six processing centers in Colorado are also under consideration for closure. The largest of these, in Colorado Springs, stands to lose 250 jobs if it’s closed.
Last week the Congressional Research Service issued an overview of USPS issues for Congress. This will no doubt be required reading for both the U.S. Senate and House as they debate separate versions of legislation aimed at overhauling the USPS.