INDIANAPOLIS - The United States Post Office could lay off 120,000 workers, cut delivery days, and close 3,600 branch offices just to keep running.
The colors are changing in rural Indiana, but that is not all that's changing. Tiny Alamo, Indiana in Montgomery County is on the verge of losing its post office, one of 96 rural post offices under study for closure.
Steve Waldon lives 2 1/2 miles outside of Alamo and says a closure would mean a lengthy trip to the next closest post office.
"Go all the way to Crawfordsville, which is 15-16 miles away to get stamps," he said.
If folks in Alamo want to know what it's like to go without a post office, all they have to do is venture up the road to Wallace, Indiana. The Wallace post office closed a couple of years ago. Resident Nick Ellingwood says they have learned to persevere.
"We can get all of our postal supplies through the rural carrier," he said. "We're losing. Like everywhere, we're losing."
That is why Mark Strong, president of the National League of Postmasters was in Indiana Monday. He was preaching to a choir of rural postmasters in Crawfordsville.
"The problem is, rural America is the part of America that needs the post office the most," Strong said.
He maintains if America would close 10,000 of its smallest post offices, it would still only save around seven-tenths of one percent of the overall budget. He says politicians in Washington are not looking in the right places for answers.
"Just put mailboxes on the street and quit delivering to the house and we can save $4.5 billion," Strong said.
But now, the federal government is looking at extending rural route delivery without considering the costs for the post office and the citizenry.
"You are looking at 10-12 miles for anybody to go anywhere else," said Alamo Postmaster Paula Dye.
Everyone believes a review is in order, but at what cost?
Just last month, thousands of postal workers nationwide rallied against a planned layoff that could affect up to 120,000 workers. By the end of this year, the post office says its deficit could be as much as $10 billion.
