Editing United States Postal Service (section)

==== Post office closures ====

In July 2011, the USPS announced a plan to close about 3,700 small post offices. Various representatives in Congress protested, and the Senate passed a bill that would have kept open all post offices farther than {{convert|10|mile|km}} from the next office.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Sanburn |first=Josh |url=https://business.time.com/2013/04/12/the-post-offices-biggest-problem-isnt-saturday-delivery-its-congress/ |title=Post Office Keeps Saturday Delivery Thanks to Congress |magazine=Time Magazine |date=April 12, 2013 |access-date=June 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525182541/http://business.time.com/2013/04/12/the-post-offices-biggest-problem-isnt-saturday-delivery-its-congress/ |archive-date=May 25, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> In May 2012, the service announced it had modified its plan. Instead, rural post offices would remain open with reduced retail hours (some as little as two hours per day) unless there was a community preference for a different option.<ref name="USPS plan" /> In a survey of rural customers, 54% preferred the new plan of retaining rural post offices with reduced hours, 20% preferred the "Village Post Office" replacement (where a nearby private retail store would provide basic mail services with expanded hours), 15% preferred merger with another Post Office, and 11% preferred expanded rural delivery services.<ref name="pr12_054">{{cite web|url=http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_054.htm|title=New Strategy to Preserve the Nation's Smallest Post Offices|access-date=September 27, 2012|author=USPS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008092117/http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_054.htm|archive-date=October 8, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2012, USPS reported that approximately 40% of postal revenue comes from online purchases or private retail partners including [[Walmart]], [[Staples Inc.|Staples]], [[Office Depot]], [[Walgreens]], [[Sam's Club]], [[Costco]], and grocery stores.<ref name="pr12_054" /> The [[National Labor Relations Board]] agreed to hear the American Postal Workers Union's arguments that these counters should be staffed by postal employees who earn far more and have "a generous package of health and retirement benefits".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/us-postal-service-workers-staples-staff/story?id=21597291 |title=Unions Angered by Postal Service's Staples Outlets |last1=Hananel |first1=Sam |date=January 19, 2014 |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |agency=Associated Press |access-date=January 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140120204828/https://abcnews.go.com/Business/us-postal-service-workers-staples-staff/story?id=21597291 |archive-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/07/08/usps-controversial-deal-with-staples-headed-to-showdown-over-legality/ |title=USPS's controversial deal with Staples headed to showdown over legality |last1=Rein |first1=Lisa |date=July 8, 2015 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=July 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104143610/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/07/08/usps-controversial-deal-with-staples-headed-to-showdown-over-legality/ |archive-date=November 4, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>