This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Rural Post offices


Could the potential closures of post offi ces in rural areas affect some Oklahoma towns? By Charles Sasser


The proposed closing of 3,700 post offi ces across the nation includes 87 post offi ces in rural Oklahoma. If the closings happen, some Oklahoma towns could have a “village post offi ce,” which consists of a local retailer such as a convenience store or gas station that could offer fewer services than the local post offi ce. Photo by Christina Wiliams (Oklahoma Living Calendar Contest win- ner of 2010)


I


n the post-apocalyptic movie The Postman, a nomadic survivor played by Kevin Costner wanders the nuclear wasteland until he comes upon a dead postal carrier and his mail pouch. Taking up the mailman’s duty, he delivers the mail and thus begins rebuilding civilization. Delivery of the mail becomes a metaphor for both the collapse of civilization and its resurrection.


To many Oklahomans, the proposed closing of 3,700 local post offi ces across the nation, 87 of which are in Oklahoma, carries with it a feeling that essential services are on the decline. The post offi ce has been a cornerstone of community life almost from the beginning of American coloniza- tion. It signifi ed that a village had reached a certain state of civility, that it was connected to the rest of the country.


“First the country store and gas station went out of business,” says Ozarks Electric Cooperative member John Peck of Bunch, Okla. (Population 80), whose post offi ce is on the list of suggested closures. “All that’s left if the post offi ce leaves is a little school house and a church. If they move, Bunch will dry up and blow away in the next wind. There won’t be anything left to stay for.” Postal service in American began in 1692 when King William issued a grant to “erect. . . an offi ce or offi ces for the receiving and dispatching letters and pacquets. . .” With the start of the Revolution- ary War, the Second Constitutional Congress au- thorized Congress on July 16, 1775, to “establish post offi ces and post roads.” The U.S. Postal Service is one of only a few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution, in Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.


That same year, Ben Franklin, the fi rst postmaster general, opened a post offi ce in Philadelphia, on the


26 OKLAHOMA LIVING


Rural post offi ces across Oklahoma have cut business hours to save money, as exampled by this sign in the window of the Bunch, Okla. post offi ce. Photo by Charles Sasser


fl oor below his quarters.


Mail transport service expanded greatly after 1862 with steam ship and railroad delivery. Rural free de- livery (RFD) in 1896 and the addition of parcel post in 1913 further increased mail volume. In 1918, the post offi ce began air mail service. Both domestic and international air mail became obsolete by 1985 when fi rst class mail by air became routine. President Nixon’s signing of the Postal Reorga- nization Act of 1970 replaced the cabinet-level Post Offi ce Department with an independent U.S. Postal Service (USPS). As an independent entity of the U.S. government, the post offi ce has not directly received taxpayer dollars since the early 1980s. RFD mailboxes along blacktop or unpaved roads are as familiar to most country folk as white-faced


cattle and cottonwoods on creek banks. In the early 20th Century, when “town” might be hours away by farm wagon, the RFD box served as a singular means of communication. Older Oklahomans re- member running barefoot to meet the mailman when they expected delivery of Little Orphan An- nie decoder rings or an offi cial Lone Ranger mask from the radio. For many, the mailman was the only representative of the U.S. government they ever saw. One could always depend on the mailman in both good times and bad. The mail went through even during the Great Depression when much of American seemed crippled. The errant letter that somehow got misplaced in 1935 and ended up at its destination in 1989 was so rare that it made front page news. Today, the USPS with its 574,000 workers reports it delivers 660 million pieces of mail daily to 142 million delivery points. Nevertheless, the volume of fi rst class mail has declined almost 30 percent since 1998 due to wide- spread use of e-mail and the Internet. Although pri- ority, bulk mail, pre-sorted business mail and parcel post have inched up, it is not enough to compensate for the downward spiral of fi rst class mail or to over- come a projected $12 billion budget shortfall. On December 5, 2011, America received news through a USPS release that it was considering shut- ting down half its 460 processing centers, 3,700 of its 31,000 post offi ces, and eliminating 28,000 jobs, a move the USPS predicts will save the cash-strapped department $200 million a year.


A USPS statement issued through Postmaster


General Patrick Donahoe declares that “our cus- tomers have made it clear they no longer require a physical post offi ce to conduct most of their postal business. . .”


The best candidates for closure are rural post


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138