Senator Charles E. Schumer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 25, 2012

SCHUMER LEGISLATION PASSES SENATE AS PART OF MAJOR POSTAL REFORM BILL – BILL INCLUDES PROVISIONS TO PRESERVE NY’S RURAL POST OFFICES & DOOR-TO-DOOR MAIL DELIVERY SERVICE

Schumer Amendment To Protect Door-To-Door Postal Delivery Service to Individual Doors and Mailboxes Passes the Senate – Without Schumer’s Amendment, Senate Bill Could Have Created Apartment-Style Group Boxes Further From Homes

Second Schumer-Supported Amendment to Keep All Existing Rural Post Offices Open For 1 Year Also Clears Senate – Effort Saves 53 Post Offices That Had Been Set For Closure, Provides Key Window To Fight To Keep Them Open Long Term

Schumer: The Postal Service Will Keep Delivering to Your Door, And Rural Offices Will Keep Running For Years to Come

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that a major postal reform bill has cleared the Senate, including his legislation to preserve door-to-door mail delivery service for the U.S. Postal Service, and Schumer-supported legislation placing a one year moratorium on rural post office closings. Schumer pushed for these provisions to be part of S. 1789, the 21^st Century Postal Service Act which aimed to reform the Postal Service and identify cost savings to keep the Service strong, and passed the Senate 62 to 37. Originally, the bill would have allowed the USPS to install new group boxes, like those in apartment complexes, for an entire neighborhood or street with residential homes. Rather than having mail delivered to their mailbox or door, homeowners could have been forced to travel further from their home simply to pick up the mail. Schumer’s amendment has passed and will preserve the same door delivery service customers currently receive. The second amendment Schumer supported, introduced by Senators Claire McCaskill (MO) and Jeff Merkley (OR), prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from closing rural post offices for one year. Post offices could only be closed after the one year time period if they satisfy several criteria set forth by the USPS. The criteria are designed to keep offices open to protect seniors’ access to mail-order prescriptions, business owners’ access to timely postal services, and to protect post offices that are essential to the local community. Over 50 rural offices in New York State were slated for closure under the original plan proposed by the Postmaster General, but the passage of this amendment prevents those closures.

“The Senate passage of major postal reform today clears a major hurdle towards preserving postal service for hundreds of thousands of Upstate seniors and businesses in every corner of the state, that rely on rural post offices and door-to-door delivery,” said Schumer. “I am pleased that the Senate bill makes the important cost-saving reforms needed to preserve the Post Office’s vital services, while still preventing the closure of key rural post offices in Upstate New York and ending door-to-door delivery as we know it. These are smart provisions that recognize that the USPS needs reform, but balances that need with the importance of our rural post offices and convenient delivery. With this one year moratorium, we’ll have more time to fight to protect the rural post offices that thousands of Upstate New Yorkers rely on.”

As originally written, the postal reform bill would have pushed the USPS to stop delivering mail to individual doors and mailboxes and instead install apartment complex-style group boxes, where all of the mail for a given street or neighborhood would be delivered to boxes that were grouped together in one place, further from individual homes. Citing the hardship this would place on senior citizens and others, Schumer introduced an amendment to the bill that would prohibit the USPS from installing these boxes and dramatically altering the way mail is delivered. For new developments where group mail centers make sense, the USPS would be allowed to install these boxes in the future. But Schumer’s amendment aims to preserve the door delivery service that residents have relied on for decades.

Schumer also supported the one year moratorium on rural post office closings, which passed the Senate today. The New York post offices that were slated for closure, but would remain open under the Senate bill for one year during which further study could be conducted, appear below:

Office	City	Zip
Alcove	Alcove	12210
Allentown	Allentown	12007
Bakers Mills	Bakers Mills	12811
Black Creek	Black Creek	14714
Brier Hill	Brief Hill	13614
Centerville	Centerville	14029
Charlotteville	Charlotteville	12036
Chichester	Chichester	12416
Coeymans Hollow	Coeymans Hollow	12046
Cranberry Lake	Cranberry Lake	12927
Dayton	Dayton	14041
Dickinson Center	Dickinson Center	12930
Ellenburg	Ellenburg	12933
Farmersville Station	Farmersville Station	14060
Fine	Fine	13639
Fishs Eddy	Fishs Eddy	13774
Fremont Center	Fremont Center	12736
Highland Lake	Highland Lake	12743
Hoffmeister	Hoffmeister	13353
Hunt	Hunt	14846
Java Village	Java Village	14083
Kenoza Lake	Kenoza Lake	12750
Killawog	Killawog	13794
Lanesville	Lanesville	12450
Little Genesee	Little Genesee	14754
Malden Bridge	Malden Bridge	12115
Moriah Center	Moriah Center	12961
New Russia	New Russia	12964
Newton Falls	Newton Falls	13666
Niobe	Niobe	14758
North Blenheim	North Blenheim	12131
North Branch	North Branch	12766
North Hoosick	North Hoosick	12133
North Hudson	North Hudson	12855
North Pitcher	North Pitcher	13124
Norht River	North River	12856
Obernburg	Obernburg	12767
Piercefield	Piercefield	12973
Pond Eddy	Pond Eddy	12770
Portlandville	Portlandville	13834
Pyrites	Pyrites	13677
Rainbow Lake	Rainbow Lake	12976
Rexville	Rexville	14877
Federal	Rochester	14614
South Bethlehem	South Bethlehem	12161
Spring Glen	Spring Glen	12483
Van Hornesville	Van Hornesville	13475
Wanakena	Wanakena	13695
West Eaton	West Eaton	13484
West Fulton	West Fulton	12194
Westdale	Westdale	13483
Wevertown	Wevertown	12886
Willet	Willet	13863