JOICE, IA- Postal service leaders are making stops in several more North Iowa towns ... in an effort to reach out to communities - and explain how the process works.
Residents of the small town of Joice are getting some bad news; their post office is one of the 270 locations in Iowa that is part of what's called a "discontinuance study".
That means their office could permanently close within a couple of months.
Mayor Mark Thoma said, "My concern is that the post office is hastily rushing into this decision and really just hey this is the easiest way to cut costs and not even looking at other alternatives try to work with the city."
Postal service representatives say many smaller offices are not making enough money.
More people are using e-mail to correspond ... and that means fewer letters that are hand-delivered.
The postal service says they will still provide residents with mail service. It will just be a little different.
They’re proposing a cluster box unit for this town with a rural mail carrier.
It's the same story for many other small-town post offices.
(R) State Sen. Merlin Bartz said, "North Central Iowa is hit exceptionally hard under this proposal. Worth county alone could lose more than 50% of its post offices based upon the listing. As a state policy maker, I cannot emphasize enough the negative impacts this will have on rural Iowa."
So, while the postal service considers some difficult decisions to try and keep their company afloat...the people in these smaller towns are doing the same, to try and keep the identity of their community intact.
Thoma said, “it's a slice of downtown rural America. It's a part of our community. It's a place to go to communicate and a service I believe we need to keep in our town."
Postal service leaders say no final decision has been made, they are just meeting with communities like this to let them know it's a possibility.
Communities will get at least a 30 day notice if their local post office is going to close.
