Washington, D.C. – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva called this week for a moratorium on post office closures throughout the country in a letter co-signed by 110 other Members of Congress. As the letter states, “the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) reviewed the Postal Service’s Retail Access Optimization Initiative (RAOI), which is being used as the basis for the possible closure of more than 3,600 post offices and other retail facilities, and found serious flaws with the analysis that call into question the USPS’s current consolidation plans.”

Issues cited in the letter include incomplete post office data, inaccurate usage and revenue figures at certain branches, inaccurate distance measurements between branches and an overall study methodology that wrongly targets rural post offices.  The full letter is available at http://1.usa.gov/yAak0Y.

Grijalva and the other signatories “strongly urge [USPS] to rectify these issues within the RAOI before proceeding with any discontinuance studies or closures,” pointing out that office and branch closures “will undoubtedly affect communities and lead to the loss of middle class jobs.”

Grijalva has long led the fight to keep the postal sorting center open in Tucson. A Green Valley News article highlighting a speech he made on the issue in December quoted him: