(Washington D.C.) U.S. #3 District Representative Cindy Axne introduced a bill recently bringing transparency to temporary post office closures, also known as “emergency suspensions,” reported by the Postal Service.
The legislation comes on the heels of the temporary closure of the Corning Post Office placed on emergency suspension in late August, forcing residents looking for face-face postal services to make a 30-mile trek to Villisca.
Representative Axne says there was a period in late August when the Corning Post Office temporarily closed to address an HVAC system issue.
The Postal Suspension Transparency would require the U.S. Postal service to develop a new public-facing dashboard of all post office facilities under emergency suspension that would include the following information.
*Street address
*The date of and reason for the suspension.
*The normal date operations are estimated to resume
*The location and hours of the nearest facility with postal services
*Alternative services available, including how to request the curbside delivery
The Bill is known as a temporary closure. U.S Postal Service district managers may temporarily suspend operations at any post office under their jurisdiction in the event of a natural disaster, severe damage or destruction, lack of qualified personnel, termination of a lease or rental agreement, and more. In a recent report on emergency suspensions in the eastern area, the U.S Postal Service “did not consistently comply with policies and procedures regarding emergency suspensions.
