“TRUE...but based on what our postman told us directly”
I think it’s probably like the nonsense that goes on with the airlines post “deregulation.” There are a lot of places where a window at the back of the local hardware store would do just fine, but the USPS, in all its wisdom, went ahead and built a building that is underutilized and overstaffed. They’ve gotten away with not “running the operation out of the till” until now, but the Congress isn’t in the position of bankrolling them any longer. Still, thanks to Harry Reid, you have “scheduled air service” from Ely to Las Vegas. Often the plane flies empty and Harry makes sure that Uncle picks up the tab!
I live in a suburban/rural area outside a mid sized city of 200,000. There are 6 small post offices within 5 miles of my house. All of them could be closed and their retail operations subcontracted to card shops, hardware stores, UPS, stores or other private retail operations.
Saturday delivery is a long needed cost savings that should result in significant savings. Retiree medical benefits should also be eliminated for current employees. Most private sector companies have dropped retiree medical over the last decade. In suburban/urban areas delivery at the door should be eliminated and replaced with curbside boxes (like in rural areas or in unsafe neighborhoods with community stations with locked individual boxes such as those employed in many newer planned communities.
Congress “privatized” the post office years ago but tied the hands of management so it couldn’t execute the kinds of cost savings measures that would result in the elimination of large numbers of jobs or reduce employee benefits. The inability of Congress to privatize this agency successfully suggests there will never be meaningful reductions in agency bureaucracies.