It used to be that every small town would have a Main Street with its own little church, school, general store and post office. So far, we’ve seen many of those churches closed due to dwindling membership, schools closed due to consolidation and stores closed due to competition from the new big box down the way. The post office is the final holdout ”“ and now some of those are slated to fade into the past as well.

The United States Postal Service is looking to close 3,700 post offices nationwide, with an expected savings of $200 million. Among those on the current list for closure consideration is the East Parsonsfield post office, the only one in York County that may be affected.

In closing these offices, the USPS does not plan to leave rural customers high and dry, however. Postal services and products would still be available in most cases through “village post offices,” which are proposed to be set up in nearby stores, libraries or town halls. These village post offices would be able to sell stamps as well as accept flat-rate packages and some other packages. More serious business, like passports, would be available at the nearest free-standing post office.

Already, stamps are available at the grocery store and other venues, sometimes via machine, and the USPS says this is the bulk of their business.

With that in mind, and the very serious debt issues faced by the USPS at this time, we support the plan to close several offices and consolidate services into existing community buildings. It won’t be easy for people to lose their local post office, and yes, it will undoubtedly cost some jobs. However, with the financial crisis that the postal system is facing, it makes business sense to consolidate its efforts.

And that’s the crux of the issue. While the USPS is a government entity, it is actually operated like a business. The USPS does not receive tax funds for its operations, meaning it must be self-sustaining. That’s gotten harder and harder in recent years, as people choose email instead of letters, and pay their bills online instead of via mail. On top of that, the recent recession resulted in a decline in advertising mail and the postal service is required to prepay $5.5 billion annually for its future retiree medical benefit fund.

It seems the best approach would be for the government to restructure how the USPS operates and how it is funded, but for now, the only way the service is going to remain solvent is to accept its federal responsibilities as they currently are and figure out how to cut costs. As in any other business, there is no way that this will not result in a loss of jobs and services to customers. There’s just no way around it.

A five-day postal delivery week has also been discussed in the past, and there is no doubt the USPS will have to take such drastic measures as eliminating post offices and whittling down service to address its debt problem. If we wait for the government to address the real issue ”“ the requirement that the USPS prepay its monstrous retiree account ”“ we’ll be left with no postal service at all because it will go bankrupt.

According to reports, without this $5.5 billion prepayment, which is not required of any other government agency, the USPS would have turned a profit for the past four years. Clearly, something needs to be done about this benefits program, but in the meantime those managing the USPS will have to make reasonable cuts and those places with low populations will soon find that they will have to travel for full-scale postal services, just as they do for their grocery store, clothing store and many other purchases. Like those other businesses, a free-standing post office simply needs a certain population base to break even.

In some places, such as the island of Matinicus, which is 20 miles out to sea, exceptions should be made, since there are not many public places that stay open year-round to be used as a “village post office.” But for most non-island, remote towns, this plan will be only a minor inconvenience that will ultimately help save the postal service.

Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.