It’s bad form to fly a tattered American flag. Smita Patel reports a frayed and holey flag flying atop the pole at the post office at Ninth and Market. Patriotism aside however, a torn and tattered flag might not be a bad representation of the Postal Service’s current woes.
The postal service is on the list of high-risk federal agencies flagged for change due to nearly $7 billion dollars in potential loss this year from sharp increases in email usage.
Mail volume fell by 9 billion pieces last year, and experts estimate it will drop by an addition 28 billion pieces before 2010.
Officials are considering numerous options, including dropping Saturday from the delivery schedule, and closing a number of post offices throughout the country. Here’s a list of the Bay Area post offices in jeopardy. Is one of them yours? Will you miss it if it closes?
If you’re concerned that your local post office is on the list, perhaps you could consider resurrecting the long dead art of writing your congressmen a letter. Share your concerns and increase mail flow all with a single act.
