Branstad Calls For Moratorium on Post Office Closures; Says IA and W Va. Hardest Hit

By Lynn Campbell
IowaPolitics.com

DES MOINES – Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday called for a moratorium on the closure of post offices, noting that Iowa and West Virginia are hardest hit by the U.S. Postal Services’ plans to close 3,700 post offices nationwide. 

“Our state seems to be particularly hard hit and targeted. As governor of this state, I believe I have a responsibility and obligation to go to bat for those communities and for maintaining that service,” Branstad told IowaPolitics.com at his weekly news conference. “Not to say that some post offices can’t or won’t be closed, but there should be a thoughtful and systematic approach towards this … nobody will tell us what the criteria are and the citizens are rightly upset.”

Iowa could see the closure of 178 post offices in the plan announced last week by the U.S. Postal Service, which had a net loss of $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2010. That comes after the postal service announced closure of the Processing and Distribution Facility in Sioux City by October, and the Customer Service Mail Processing Center in Fort Dodge by January.

But Richard Watkins, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service’s Des Moines-based Hawkeye District, on Monday told IowaPolitics.com that the postal service is “absolutely not” picking on Iowa. He said while the postal service knows there’s concern among rural communities about the potential closures, keeping all of these post offices open would be like “delivering milk bottles on the porch.”

“If there’s still a need for that, you could make that argument. But people are using post offices less frequently than ever,” Watkins said. “The postal service simply has to live within our means as a non-tax-supported agency of the federal government. It would be irresponsible to do otherwise. We’ll continue to match our workforce and our facilities with a declining workload. We have to. What other option do we have?”

Watkins said Iowa’s nearly 900 post offices represent about 3 percent of the nation’s 32,000 post offices. But according to the 2010 census, Iowa’s 3 million residents represent less than 1 percent of the nation’s population. He said there’s a trend of rural residents moving to more populated areas. He also said more than half of all bills are now being paid online, and the postal service’s retail revenue has dropped $2 billion nationwide as people buy stamps and other mailing services at alternate locations such as grocery stores.

Another hard-hit state is West Virginia, where the plan calls for closure of 150 post offices. In contrast, no closures are proposed for Delaware.

“I think it’s pretty unconscionable. They don’t seem to have any plan,” Branstad said of the U.S. Postal Service. “The only thing I can figure out is if you don’t have a permanent postmaster, they’re going to try to close your post office … Why does every little town have to have a postmaster? Can’t you just have somebody in charge that doesn’t have the title being a postmaster?”

Branstad said a U.S. senator from Delaware has introduced a bill supported by the postal service. He questioned whether there’s any politics involved.

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., in May introduced the Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation Act of 2011, which proposes to ease postal employee pension and retiree health costs; address postal employee wages and benefits; allow partnerships with state and local governments; continue and enhance efforts to preserve its existing business; give the Postal Service leeway to close post offices, market certain non-postal items and eliminate Saturday delivery.

Watkins said the proposed closure of 3,700 post offices nationwide, including the 178 in Iowa, is “not a done deal.” He said the postal service is following regulations on how it goes about studying post offices for potential closure. He said the postal service will listen to community input, and no office will be closed between now and December.

Branstad said he’s working with other governors on this issue, as well as with Iowa mayors in affected communities. The governor has attended several meetings across Iowa about this issue. He said there have been a “lot more good ideas from the citizens than from the postal service” on how to deal with the financial problems. He also said Iowans are signing petitions and demanding to be heard.

“The post office has been very vague about this. In fact, I didn’t even get an official notice. I was contacted by the mayor of Lohrville,” Branstad said. “I’m very hopeful that we can get a groundswell of opposition out here in rural America that can get the attention of the postal service and get them to put in place a moratorium until they have put together a thoughtful and systematic plan that addresses their problem, as opposed to just willy-nilly closing a bunch of rural post offices.” 

Watkins declined to comment specifically about Branstad’s proposed moratorium. However, he said in the past five years, there have been 200 million fewer visits to local post offices nationwide. He said the postal service is losing $23 million a day. In response, he said the postal service has cut $12 billion in costs, eliminated 130,000 positions, consolidated 12,000 delivery routes and implemented both a hiring freeze and a capital spending freeze.

“It’s not like we just woke up one day. We’ve been making these changes for years,” Watkins said. “Right now, the postal service is being responsible in our approach to living within our means.”

Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich, who has also taken a leadership role in challenging the postal service’s proposed closures, did not immediately return a call and email Monday from IowaPolitics.com seeking comment on this issue.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, has said that he plans to take action, as well. He noted that 62 of the post offices up for potential closure are in Iowa’s current 5th Congressional District in western Iowa, which he represents.

“In the coming days and weeks, I will be working with community leaders in each affected town to develop an individualized plan to ensure that the feedback and concerns of each community are brought to the attention of the Postal Service,” King said in a statement last week.” The USPS cannot be allowed to take advantage of this situation to shirk its responsibilities in western Iowa." 

A post office in Lohrville, one of the 178 that could close in Iowa, is owned by Branstad. The governor and his wife own a dozen post offices including ones in Lake Mills, North English, Lohrville, Lake Park, Dunlap, Olin, Packwood, Manly, Exira, Guttenberg, Le Claire and Seymour.

The Branstads own the buildings that are leased to the postal service. Last year, during the 2010 campaign, the governor and his wife sold a post office they owned in Pleasantville for a capital gain of $52,069, according to tax returns released earlier this year. The sale was intended to help make ends meet after Branstad quit his job as president of Des Moines University, which had a salary of about $331,231, to once again run for governor. He now makes about $130,000 a year.

Branstad said the postal service’s financial problems are primarily caused by its pension system and the fact that Congress has required them to fund their pension system.

However, Watkins said while the U.S. Postal Service’s pension system is over-funded by between $50 billion and $70 billion, the problem has more to do with health benefits. He said a “pre-funding requirement” mandated by Congress requires the postal service to pay in advance for future retiree health benefits at a tune of $5.5 billion for 2007 to 2016. He said there’s a total of $20 billion in that fund.

Listen to Branstad’s press conference:
http://www.iowapolitics.com/1009/110801Branstad.mp3

See the list of post offices up for potential closure: 
http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/expandedaccess/statelist.htm

See the list of Iowa post offices affected:
http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/expandedaccess/states/iowa.htm