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ing which has become a lost art for many of us. Think back to the last time you received a handwritten personal letter from someone. Can you remember who it was from, let alone when you received it?
• That's the reality of modern times and the reality the Postal Service is trying to survive. But it's not just the Postal Service that is trying to adjust and survive. Small towns across the country, including many in South Dakota, are looking at the potential loss of mail service as the USPS tries to cut its losses by closing postal operations in small communities. In addition, the Postal Service has talked about going from a six-day per week delivery schedule to five and, who knows, maybe fewer down the road.
• We all have to remember that only the USPS has the universal mandate and a monopoly on the box outside your home or at the end of your drive. The private competitive carriers don't -- they go only where they can make money. Congress and our nation need to remember the universal delivery mandate is both a blessing and curse for the USPS.
• Certainly these are tough times for a variety of reasons. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are dependent on the USPS -- besides the people who work there are those involved in the direct mail, catalogue, bulk mail and other forms of shipping. If the Postal Service reduces its operations sites, number of employees and/or delivery schedule, those jobs will be affected.
• In many rural areas the distance between post office sites can be substantial. Closing more sites will increase the expense it takes to get from one site to another. Daily trips to the local post office would likely become a thing of the past in many communities.
• Early next month, the first 12 northeast South Dakota communities whose post offices could be affected by a proposal to reduce window service hours, including Florence in Codington County, have set public meetings to discuss the situation. Towns in Clark, Day, Marshall, Roberts and Spink counties also will have meetings before Nov. 15.
• If your community has one of those meetings scheduled, please attend. What you have to say and how the decisions reached by the USPS impact your life could be important to service in your area.
• If you want to keep what you have let the people making the decisions know how important your local post office is.
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