First, let’s cut to the root of this. The US Post Office is inefficient, to put it mildly. They lose money and run deficits yearly – to the tune of 8 billion dollars last year. The Fort Thomas Post Office is one of many offices around the nation that is being audited for review by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Coming under review doesn’t necessarily mean an office will close. The post office announced in January it was reviewing 1,400 offices for closing. So far, 280 have been closed and 200 have finished the review process and will remain open.
Once an office is selected for a review, people served by that office will have 60 days to file their comments. If an office is to be closed, they will be able to appeal to the independent Postal Regulatory Commission.
If it does close, it could be an inconvenience, albeit a pretty small one – the next closest post office is in Newport. But to call a spade a spade, I would bet 90% of the comments filed to the Postal Regulatory Commission will be from the residents who have not embraced new means of communication. That’s not a knock on our older residents, but how much longer will government run agencies be allowed to run in the red? This speaks to a larger issue that we are no doubt being inundated from all media outlets.
The tipping point has undoubtedly been reached for the US Mail. They are being forced to evolve or risk going belly up – like a real business. Obviously, I wouldn’t cheer for losing our post office, but if this is the beginning of government being forced to become more solvent in their dealings, I say bring it on.
