WASHINGTON — The Postal Service is considering closing more than 1 in 10 of its retail outlets, including 63 in Colorado.
The financially troubled agency announced Tuesday that it will study 3,653 local offices, branches and stations for possible closing. But many of those may be replaced by what the service is calling Village Post Offices — in which postal services are offered in local stores, libraries or government offices.
“It’s no secret that the Postal Service is looking to change the way we do a lot of things,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said at a briefing. “We do feel that we are still relevant to the American public and the economy, but we have to make some tough choices.”
Currently, the post office operates 31,871 retail outlets across the country, down from 38,000 a decade ago, but in recent years business has declined sharply as first-class mail moved to the Internet. In addition, the recession resulted in a decline in advertising mail.
The agency lost $8 billion last year.
Most of the offices that face review are in rural areas and have low volumes of business, including those in Colorado.
