Max Baucus: “In my State, and I know various other Senators in various other States, ran into a problem with the Postal Service.…”

“In my State, and I know various other Senators in various other States, ran into a problem with the Postal Service. Namely, when the Postal Service wants to properly close, relocate or build a new post office, it has been, frankly, not the most sensitive operation in the world. That is, just close a post office, announce a closure, and that is it--giving the public and communities no say and no opportunity to comment on the closing, no opportunity to work out some accommodation with the Postal Service. There are many examples of this. Let me give one in Livingston, MT. The Postal Service decided they were going to close the post office in downtown Livingston, just announced that they will build a new building on the edge of town. The community was up in arms because they had no notice of this, they had no opportunity to try to work something out with the Postal Service. This is a very, very, very, popular part of town. It is the center of a small town. People go to the post office, linger, talk to their friends. It is basically kind of a commons. To have this willy-nilly moved out of town is quite disruptive to the community.”