U.S. Postal Service ailingAlthough the U.S. Postal Service is studying the possible closure of 600 post offices in large cities across the country, none will be closed in Wyoming, and there will be no changes at the Powell post office.

Although volume is down, especially third-class bulk mail, it is still business as usual at the post office in Powell.

“Nothing drastic is going to happen here,” said Powell Postmaster Wendy Nielsen. “Our mail volume decreased, but not enough to make an impact.”

Big cities have lots of stores, but for rural communities such as Powell, there aren't so many. So there are still plenty of catalogs flowing through the office, and plenty of newspapers, too.

The local post office has 23 employees, including Nielsen, and there will be no layoffs or retirements, she said.

In large metropolitan areas with multiple post offices, the service is weighing possible closures, but not in Wyoming, said Al DeSarro, communication spokesman for U.S. Postal Service western region in Denver.

“This doesn't affect Wyoming,” DeSarro said.

Mail volume is down 15 percent from last year, and the Postal Service is looking at a projected $7 million deficit at the end of this fiscal year, DeSarro said.

The No. 1 reason for the Postal Service's financial woes is it must pay $5.4 billion for advance retirement benefits to its employees.

If it wasn't for that $5.4-billion burden, the service would have been in the black last year, DeSarro said.

Add to that the recession, which exacerbates a reduction in business mail, and the service remains in the red.

The service is hurting economically and the Government Accountability Office, under U.S. Congress, said late last month it fears the service will face financial insolvency without major structural change.

“New technology is profoundly affecting services in both the private and public sectors, including traditional mail delivery. Compounded by the current recession, the volume of mail being sent is dropping substantially,” said Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, in a statement last month.

But the service is trimming. It saved $6 billion last year by retiring 30,000 employees, freezing senior salary increases, streamlining transportation costs, consolidating mail processing and adjusting route deliveries, DeSarro said.

The good news is that, although the service might scale back the number of offices, there will be no layoffs.

Employees at a closing post office would have the option to transfer, DeSarro said.

To save an estimated $3.5 billion annually, reducing the number of delivery days from six to five is still under consideration.

In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, DeSarro said, 66 percent of the American people said they would support five days of operation, if it would keep the Postal Service afloat.

In a Ponemon Institute survey, 87 percent of the people viewed the Postal Service as their most trusted of federal agencies.

DeSarro said the U.S. Postal Service is the largest and most-efficient postal organization in the world.

DeSarro said folks can continue to count on the Postal Service.

“We're going to work through this financial situation,” DeSarro said.

In the age of electronic mail, with index fingers hovering near delete buttons, personal letters with stamps attached take precedence. Imagine stopping at your mailbox to sort through your mail consisting of bills, junk mail, fliers — and possibly a goody in the middle.

“You flip, flip, flip,” said Nielsen, “(then) you stop and read that card or letter.”