I haven’t used the “Post Offices” category in a while, but it looks like it’s about to come back in a big way. A story at KWWL tipped me off to this.* There’s also a story from KCRG, embedded above.
When the U.S. Postal Service planned a few years ago to drastically reduce the number of post offices in the country, Iowa was especially going to be hit hard. Opposition from elected officials put a stop to things before the plan could go into full effect, but it was too late for a few dozen Iowa post offices including Buckingham.
Now, instead of total closures, the USPS has been cutting down the operating hours of small post offices across the state, including hundreds in Iowa. The full national list from 2012 is available as a PDF, organized alphabetically by the first three digits of the ZIP Code. Note that Iowa is listed first among the I states because of its postal abbreviation.
Five post offices in Tama County would be or have been affected, as well as what appears to be every Benton County town outside of Belle Plaine and Vinton. In fact, if your town is under 1000 people and you still have a post office, assume your town is on this list. There are even a few of greater population included (Reinbeck!). More than half of the Iowa communities on the list would have their hours halved, from eight to four. (I’m going off what the PDF list says. The actual number of hours in current operation may be fractional.)
Three of those Tama County post offices are already operating under reduced hours. This plan cuts Chelsea from eight hours a day to four; Elberon from six to two; Lincoln from six to two; Montour from eight to four; and Vining from four to two. Reinbeck would be cut from eight to six. The only reason Clutier and Garwin aren’t on this list is because their post offices were casualties of the 2011 derecho.
The full list, linked above, does not note which locations have already had reduced hours put into effect. The meetings in Iowa have been sporadic for the past two years, but there are 110 scheduled in the next month. Vining will be one of the first, at 3 PM July 9. The complete lists, organized by week, can be viewed on the USPS website, but you will have to look at each week individually to find your town IF it is one of the 110.
Below is a map of the complete list. It does not distinguish between previous and future meetings. Open it in a new window/tab to see a larger size. There’s a tiny handful that had two hours for both current and proposed.
* “The choices on those surveys were accept a cut in hours at that post office, close the post office or open a substation for the post office.” Some choices.