If the Postman Left Town, Would It Matter to Your Business?

To say the small business reaction to proposed postal service cuts has been muted is like saying postal workers have a reputation for being dangerous when irritated. But the time may come when "going postal" refers not to unhinged violence but to radical slimming down. With the news that the U.S. Postal Service is considering shutting down one in 10 of its ubiquitous, flag-flying offices, small businesses everywhere need to take stock of how heavily they rely on the postman.

First, the requisite post office joke. Huffpost humorist Gene Marks speculates that a complete shutdown of mail delivery, in the event of failure to reach a deal to raise the U.S. debt limit, might be a good deal. "I could use a few days off from getting bills (and another float day before my check arrives at a vendor)," Marks wisecracks. Very funny. Also very true.

Second, look behind the headlines. Sure, the Postal Service said it would look at possibly closing 3,653 local stations. But they haven't decided to close any yet. They're only going to do a four- to six-month study of the idea. After that, the process for deciding will take a long time and involve plenty of opportunity for you to complain about any proposal to close your local office.

Third, closing is not the same as losing. In the highly likely and appropriate event that they do close a sizable number, many of those closed facilities will be replaced with presumably less costly, trimmed-down facilities called "Village Post Offices." These will offer some of the familiar postal services inside commercial retailers, public libraries, government offices and the like. So the impact of this proposal should be moderate, if not minimal.

Fourth, you haven't heard the last of this. The Postal Service lost $8 billion last year. At 44 cents per "Forever" stamp, that's a lot of first-class letters to make up for. And with communications of all varieties increasingly moving onto the various electronic telecommunications networks, it's just not going to happen. There will be more cuts, with Saturday delivery as one possibility.

Fifth, the news is in no way all bad, even if they do close your favorite letter drop. As BusinessJournalism.org notes, closed post offices can be turned into all kinds of dandy commercial enterprises. Another 3,635 vacant properties will give commercial real estate brokers something to work with, and might help hold down rental rates for the rest of us.

Sixth, and most important, snail mail has been largely replaced (if you hadn't noticed). Not just by email and texting. Also by FedEx and UPS. Not to mention electronic check processing and transmission, Paypal, and debit cards. The post office is in trouble because we don't need it as much anymore. Slimming it down to a level that matches demand for its services is appropriate and not likely to pose a problem for any business with a modicum of flexibility and resourcefulness.

As a final note, I'll point out that the post office serving the 78749 ZIP code where I live is not on the proposed study list for possible closing. If you want to check yours, the list is here.

Mark Henricks is an Austin, Texas, freelance journalist whose reporting on business, technology and other topics has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and other leading publications. Learn more about him at The Article Authority. Follow him on Twitter @bizmyths.
Image courtesy of Flickr user matthewspiel, CC2.0