Restoration Plaza Post Office Targeted for Possible Closure

Sending and receiving snail mail in Bed-Stuy may get a little more challenging in the coming months.

The United States Postal Service announced today it may have to close up to 3,700 post offices across the United States, and the location at Restoration Plaza is on that list.

The cost-cutting measure was proposed by the USPS to the US Government Post Regulatory Commission following a 2009 hearing, titled “Making Sense of It All: An Examination of USPS’s Station and Branch Optimization Initiative and Delivery Route Adjustments,” and a recently released study by Postmaster General Patrick Donohue.

Postal officials developed the list based on low workload among post office employees and customer foot traffic. They also considered whether the location could be combined with other postal facilities nearby.

Aside from the location at Restoration Plaza, Bedford-Stuyvesant has only one other postal location-- Breevort Station, at 1205 Atlantic Avenue.

Currently USPS operates more than 31,000 retail outlets across the country, down from 38,000 a decade ago. The USPS points to the recession, as well as a drop in mail volume caused by consumers who have switched online for the information they previously received by mail.

In 2010, the Postal Service suffered a $8.5 billion net loss, compared to a loss of $3.8 billion in 2009. In this last quarter alone of 2011 (fiscal year ending in September), the U.S. Postal Service posted a loss of $2.2 billion.

It also has asked Congress to allow it to cut back delivery to five days a week and to ease the requirement for an annual $5.5 billion payment to fund future retiree health benefits.

The postal location at Restoration Plaza is a recent addition to the list, as it was not included in the first list released in 2009, which targeted 677 closures. Also, it should be noted that this is a proposed list. The final list of confirmed closures has not yet been determined.