Critz Calls for a Moratorium on Post Office Closing Studies

Feb 14, 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman Mark S. Critz (PA-12) joined 110 of his colleagues yesterday in writing a letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe asking him “to place a moratorium on the USPS's current discontinuance studies” until the numerous problems identified by the Postal Regulatory Commission are resolved.
 
The letter calls attention to the “serious flaws” identified by the Postal Regulatory Commission’s review of the Retail Access Optimization Initiative (RAOI) analysis, which is being used as the basis for the possible closure of more than 3,600 post offices and other retail facilities. 
 
Problems the Postal Regulatory Commission identified in the RAOI include:
·         Inadequate financial data on all the post offices in the plan, “which makes it impossible to accurately calculate cost savings from proposed closures.”
·         Inaccurate representations of revenue (measurements did not include transactions such as post office box visits or dispatch for local periodicals).
·         Using geographical rather than driving distance as a criterion for putting post offices on the closing list
·         Using criteria that disproportionately targets rural post offices, a violation of 39 U.S.C. 101(b), which maintains that the USPS is required to provide effective and regular postal service to rural communities.
 
The USPS has proposed closing 33 post offices in the 12th Congressional District.  Congressman Critz and his staff have attended 29 public meetings to oppose these planned closures.  He also joined postal carriers last fall in support of H.R. 1351, the United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act, which would help solve the USPS’s fiscal problems.