	What Is a Post Office? Colloquially, the term "post office" often is employed to refer to any place where stamps are sold and postal services are provided by USPS employees. Herein, the term "USPS retail postal facilities" will encompass all five of the aforementioned postal facilities—post offices, post office branches, post office stations, community post offices, and contract postal units. How Many Post Offices Might the USPS Close? It is unclear how many retail postal facilities the USPS intends to close in the coming years. The agency also has not stated how many post offices it needs to serve the public. (1) In May 2009, the USPS announced it planned to shutter up to 3,105 retail facilities. Nor did the agency state which of the postal facilities on the 2009 and 2011 lists have been shuttered or might be shut down. Federal postal law sets forth the basic rules by which the USPS may proceed to close a post office. What Is the Role of the Postal Regulatory Commission in Post Office Closures? 39 U.S.C. Recent Legislation

		113th Congress

At the time of the publication of this report, three bills with post office closure related provisions had been introduced into the 113 th Congress— H.R. 630 , H.R. 1016 , and S. 316 . The legislation would
make the statutory closure rules applicable to all USPS-operated facilities that serve the public directly; require the USPS to notify by mail each customer served by a facility in the event that the USPS should wish to consider closing it; expand the current statutory public comment period from 60 to 90 days; require the USPS to explain publicly its analysis of the estimated effects of a closure; empower the PRC to forbid the closure of a post office after conducting a review by request of an affected member of the public; disallow the USPS to use an expedited emergency closure process in the instance of a lease termination or cancellation; and direct the USPSOIG to report on whether a retail postal facility closure produced the savings the USPS had estimated. 101(b) to increase the USPS's authority to close post offices: "The Postal Service shall provide a maximum degree of effective and regular postal services to rural areas, communities, and small towns where post offices are not self-sustaining"; and "No small post office shall be closed solely for operating at a deficit, it being the specific intent of the Congress that effective postal services be insured to residents of both urban and rural communities.
In 2009 and 2011, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced initiatives to close post offices. Approximately 4,380 retail facilities in rural, suburban, and urban areas could have been closed. In May 2012, the agency apparently changed course. The USPS issued a plan to "preserve" rural post offices; rather than closing these facilities, the USPS would reduce their operating hours. The agency did not, however, state whether it would continue to shutter post offices in non-rural areas, nor did it provide an estimate of how many post offices it needs to serve the public. Thus, how many post offices may be closed in the coming years remains unclear. At the end of FY2012, the USPS had 34,784 retail postal facilities—1,281 fewer than it had in FY2008.
At the time of the publication of this report, three bills in the 113th Congress carry provisions that address post offices and the public's access to retail postal services, including H.R. 630, H.R. 1016, and S. 316.
Colloquially, the term "post office" often is employed to refer to any place where stamps are sold and postal services are provided by USPS employees. However, the USPS differentiates among several categories of postal facilities, including post offices, post office branches and stations, community post offices, and contract postal units.
Congress long has permitted the USPS considerable discretion to decide how many post offices to erect and where to place them. Congress also requires the USPS to provide the public with access to retail postal services (e.g., sales of postage, parcel acceptance, etc.).
Both federal law and the USPS's rules prescribe a post office closure process, which takes at least 120 days. The USPS must notify the affected public and hold a 60-day comment period prior to closing a post office. Should the USPS decide to close a post office, the public has 30 days to appeal the decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission. Sixty days after it has made a closure decision, the USPS may shut down a post office.
This report will be updated to reflect significant developments.