Does Ridgewood Need a Post Office?

This would have been a silly question even as few as ten years ago. Now with the United States Post Office hemorrhaging money and talks of eliminating Saturday service and small rural post offices, it is not such a farfetched idea.

It is not an idea I favor, as these are solid middle class jobs which we are speaking about. These are the kind of jobs which people for generations have used to acquire their share of the American Dream: a house, family with children who plan to go to college, and enough money to retire on once their working days were completed.

I do favor re-inventing the US Postal Service. It is not the Pony Express, an institution doomed once faster means of transportation became available. The US Postal Service is an institution with a mission which needs to be refined; this is what I mean by re-inventing the Postal Service. Then why do our leaders, in this case the leader of the USPS, always consider gutting or eliminating long time public institutions first and not consider what other purpose this fully functioning, communications and transportation company might aspire to. We have relied upon the USPS for years and until recently they were pulling their own weight, while at the same time providing an anchor to many communities. Doesn't this alone give them and us a mandate to fix them for the 21st century?

I'll be the first to admit that I use very few stamps these days. Though I do find it re-assuring to see letter carriers walking the streets pushing their four wheeled mail bags in front of them. When we were kids these men and women, in all kinds of weather, just like their motto says, would be out on these streets keeping an eye out for things which were out of the ordinary, in addition to delivering letters and packages. This is not to say the UPS and Fedex folks in their big trucks don't do the same. Though they do it at high speed and with timers ticking away inside their trucks as a constant reminder to pick up the pace. The same could never be said of the US Postal Service, especially if you have waited on line in a postal office like mine in Forest Hills, NY. There you leave swearing that you will never, ever use the Postal Service again, and even wish they had a timer reminding them to pick up the pace.

How did we come to this situation any how? Was it the speed of UPS and Fedex, the long lines in post offices, the advent of email and online billpaying, or some combination of them all which turned our minds towards hasty thoughts of eliminating the US Postal Services? Look, I realize Ridgewood's Post Office is far down on the list of post offices proposed for closing. I also know that besides delivering mail and packages, the USPS handles passport applications, and maintains the Zip Code system, without which Fedex and UPS could not function. These jobs could be outsourced to another agency or two.

Though the fact remains US Post Offices are anchors in countless small communities, and not just places people visit for their mail when home delivery is unfeasible. This is not just an issue of inconvenience. It’s about how closing post offices will hurt neighborhoods and the downtown business district. It's how closing the post office will gradually destroy people's connection to their home town. Seen in the vacuum of being totally committed to efficiency and profit it's easy to pull the plug on the USPS.

Let's keep in mind that Post Offices do still provide places where local issues are discussed and debated. These are irreplaceable locales which private enterprise will not try to re-build once they are in charge of the 1 Trillion Dollar business of delivering mail. It may be inconvenient to the number crunchers, but when people feel rooted to a particular place, when they feel loyal to a town or a neighborhood doesn't that make them better citizens? doesn't that make them better customers for our local businesses?