By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is in appalling financial shape and every zip code in the U.S., including those in local areas, are feeling the effects.

Although many ideas and proposals have been suggested, including consolidation or elimination of certain post offices, nothing has yet been put into effect.

USPS losses are staggering. In Fiscal Year 2010 alone it lost $8.5 billion and continues to lose hundreds of millions of dollars monthly.

Government and postal authorities are scrambling to stop the losses and get the service back on a firm footing but all admit it’s going to take some drastic measures over several years.

During an annual state of the Postal Service address on Sept. 21, U.S. Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Donahoe outlined the “new reality” in which the service is operating.

“We have reduced our annual costs by more than $12 billion and our workforce has been reduced by 110,000 career employees over the past four years, but we must do significantly more to return to profitability,” Donahoe said. “We must reduce our annual costs by $20 billion by 2015 to be profitable.”

Currently, the agency is studying about 3,700 of its 32,000 post offices, stations and branches for possible closure. Some officials have suggested replacing post offices by contracting private retailers to sell stamps, offer shipping and provide other services, but at this point, they are only suggestions.

Although local post offices are “not in any trouble and are doing fine,” according to Overton Postmaster Barbara Lewis, consolidating services in Moapa Valley has been a possibility for years as a way to save money.

“As far as the postal service is concerned, Moapa Valley is essentially two places – Overton and Logandale,” Lewis said. “But for many other entities, certain business and the like, we are really just one place – Moapa Valley – that is served by two buildings. And if we were to consolidate sometime in the future as a way to save money, it would mean one building, one office, one postmaster.”

Lewis cautions that nothing has been planned locally, but the higher ups in the USPS insist nothing is off the table.

And while Donahoe praises postal employees all the work they have already done to incur cost savings, USPS is on the brink of announcing a $10 billion loss for this fiscal year, an amount triggered by shrinking mail volume but increasing labor costs.