Mobilize for Our Future, End Unlawful Closures of Public Post Offices in 2026

(This article appeared in the March/April 2026 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

At the end of 2025, the Postal Service had to report on its activities regarding rates and services in its Annual Compliance Report (ACR) to Congress and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). For years, the PRC and Congress have complained about the Postal Service’s handling of post office suspensions, yet the is-sue of violations of federal law – Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 39, Part 241; United States Code (USC) Title 39, section 404(d); and USPS Handbook PO-101 – continues regarding prolonged post office suspensions, discontinuances, and closures without pro-viding affected communities with their right to a public review period to review documents, attend hearings, and record comments, as well as their right to appeal.

After reviewing the 2025 ACR report, management often got away with ignoring the legal procedures required to discontinue and close our post offices. Some offices were on the Suspension List for years, but never held community meetings or communicated with stakeholders, politicians, unions, businesses, and organizations. Others did not meet procedural time limits or legal notifications, or considered the effects that closing post offices would have on postal workers and the communities they served. People regularly served by the Postal Service have the right to appeal a closure to the PRC. The Postal Service failed to make good-faith efforts to solicit public comment on the right to have a post office in their communities or provide a legal right to appeal a decision to the PRC. 

There was a push from Congress and the PRC for the Postal Service to respond to the backlog of suspensions, but management ignored many legal and procedural requirements. Many of the suspended post offices were removed from the suspension list and placed on the USPS internal Postal Bulletin, which stated that the office was officially closed and consolidated with another post office. No notifications were provided to patrons of their right to appeal.

That brings us to January 2026. There are still approximately 344 post offices on the Suspension List that have been suspended between 2017 and 2025.

The problem is, no one holds the Postal Service accountable to its legal requirements and responsibilities to provide communities across the country with a voice; their opportunity to comment, ask questions, attend community meetings, and receive notices of an appeal process to the PRC when their post offices are being considered for closure. Why do we let them walk all over our stakeholders and communities? The public has the right to full, prompt, affordable, effective, and reliable services, no matter where they live.

When there is a closure, there is also the loss of good postal jobs in the community, and adverse economic effects on the town or city. There is also a loss of postal revenue. Can you imagine how much postal revenue has been lost? In 2016, more than 660 post offices across the country were inactive because the Postal Service suspended them for between two to 20 years. This is part of privatization.

Postal workers must stand up for the right to have post offices in our communities. We need to stand up and fight back to save our jobs and the constitutionally mandated right of our customers to have postal services. This is a no-brainer fight. We need your help!

There are great, easy ways for you to get involved. If you are interested in supporting this fight or want to find the list of the 48 states that have suspended post offices, visit apwu.org/post-office-closures.

Postal services include your right to vote by mail, communication by sending and receiving letters and packages between loved ones, using businesses to ship products, and receiving services at affordable rates across the country and around the world.