Southside Post Office May Close

Bethlehem's (zip code 18105) is on a list of 3,700 post offices that may be shut down to save money.

The U.S. Postal Service announced this morning that it is conducting a review of 3,700 post offices as an effort in “right-sizing” the service, which has 32,000 retail offices.

To put that in perspective, UPS has 4,300 offices; Wal-Mart has 4,300 stores; Starbucks has just over 11,000, and has more than McDonald’s 13,000 restaurants.

By all accounts, the USPS is huge. And that, according to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, is the problem.

“Today, more than 35 percent of the Postal Service’s retail revenue comes from expanded access locations such as grocery stores, drug stores, office supply stores, retail chains, self-service kiosks, ATMs and usps.com, open 24/7,” he said in a press release. “Our customer’s habits have made it clear that they no longer require a physical post office to conduct most of their postal business.”

Review May Not Lead to Closure

The review process does not mean closure is a sure thing. The Huffington Post reports the USPS had announced a review of 1,400 offices in January, but has closed only 280.

The Huffington Post also states that the USPS lost more than $8 billion in 2010. So, the idea is to close under utilized post offices in favor of a “Village Post Office” inside a third-party retailer such as a super market.

The process will study the workload, foot traffic, revenue and access to postal services at the South Bethlehem location and the others around the country.

Will anyone miss the South Bethlehem Post Office if it is shut down?