U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and one of the authors of bipartisan postal reform legislation, today issued the following statement regarding the Postal Regulatory Commission’s advisory opinion on the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to close almost 3700 post offices and other retail facilities. The Postal Service is required to ask the PRC for a non binding opinion on nationwide service changes.
The PRC said “the Commission’s primary finding is that the (closure plan) was not designed to optimize the network. The Commission recommends the use of modern optimization tools and techniques to better maximize net retail revenues while fulfilling statutory service obligations.”
“The Commission’s unanimous findings support my and many of my colleagues’ skepticism about the wisdom of mass postal closures without a more thoughtful, transparent, and data-driven process,” said Senator Collins. “Fortunately, such a process is included in the 21st Century Postal Reform Act, which I authored along with Senators Lieberman, Carper and Brown. Our bill would require the Postal Service to find savings and internal efficiencies first – before raising prices and cutting service that could drive away the very customers keeping the mail in business. Today’s PRC opinion only highlights the increasing urgency for Congress to pass comprehensive postal reform if we are to preserve the Postal Service for the next generation of Americans.
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