Proposal would close West Chester Post Office

The West Chester Post Office may be closed later this summer. The postal services district in Des Moines has recommended consolidating West Chester?s post office into Keota?s post office as a way to save money. West Chester had a town meeting in March to discuss the matter, at which 27 people were present. On June 16, the proposal will go to the postal service headquarters in Washington, D.C., for its consideration.

The United States Postal Service will make a ruling later this summer. At that time, the residents of West Chester will have 30 days to appeal the decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

United States Postal Service spokesman Richard Watkins said in an interview Wednesday that there are a few options available to West Chester residents if they do lose their post office.

One possibility is that the town receives a collection box unit, which contains locked compartments for everyone in town. The city of West Chester would be responsible for supplying the shelter, if the collection box unit were to be in an enclosed structure. Another possibility is for West Chester residents to install mailboxes outside their homes and adopt rural addresses.

If West Chester?s post office is consolidated into Keota?s, West Chester residents will be given post office boxes at the Keota Post Office. There are 54 post office boxes in West Chester?s post office.

Watkins said the postal service needs to cut costs.

?We?re losing $23 million a day,? said Watkins. ?We have a huge financial burden before we even unlock the door in the morning. And we?re not tax supported. We?re self-funding.?

Watkins said most post offices in the country do not cover their expenses, and the postal service knows that. He said the consolidations are not limited to small towns such as West Chester. The postal service has recently consolidated offices in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

The post office has to make cuts because of a drop in mail volume. Watkins said mail volume rose every year until 2006, when it peaked at 213 billion parcels delivered. First class mail had been declining for years prior to that, but it was not until 2007 when total mail volume dropped for the first time.

?Before that, real estate was booming and there was a lot of growth,? said Watkins. ?We were adding 1 million new delivery points per year. That?s an impossible business model to sustain. We can?t deliver to more points while losing revenue.?

The Internet is responsible for much of the postal service?s economic troubles. Watkins said companies have gone to billing their clients electronically, and their customers pay them electronically, too. From its high in 2006, the postal service?s mail volume is down 25 percent to 171 billion parcels in 2010.

The postal service has cut 215,000 jobs since 2000, about half of those coming in the last three years. Watkins said the postal service has closed district and regional offices and cut management positions.

Iowa has a much higher ratio of post offices per person than other states. Iowa has 900 post offices, which Watkins said represents about 3 percent of all post offices in the nation, even though Iowa has about 1 percent of the country?s population.