Governor Terry Branstad says he wants to see the US. Postal Service rethink its plan to close post offices in the state. Branstad says he like to see a moratorium put in place and a comprehensive review of the financial problems and what they can do about them instead of closing some 178 post offices.
Branstad knows first-hand the importance of post offices, as he and his wife own around one-dozen post office buildings in Iowa. “People in small communities, this is their lifeline, they rely on the post office,” Branstad said.
He says some two to 300 people turned out in a driving rain storm in Lohrville for a hearing on the closing of that post office. “I just think its not well thought out, it’s not being explained right, I think there was a lot more common sense in the room from the citizens in Lohrville than I’ve seen from the post office,” Branstad said.
Branstad says he has always had a good relationship with the postal service, but says part of the problem here is that they can’t even identify who is making the decisions on the closings. He says it appears they are closing post offices that don’t have a postmaster, and keeping open some offices that still have a postmaster, but don’t have as many residents of businesses.
Branstad says if the problem is that it costs too much to have a postmaster, then they could have one postmaster who serves several post offices. He says there’s some post offices they are closing down where the lease for the building isn’t even up.
Branstad says the Lohrville post office building is owned by his wife and believes it is the only one that they own that is scheduled to close. Some 3,700 post offices nationwide could be closed.