To cope with large-scale successive financial losses, the U.S. Postal Service is reviewing the status of more than 3,600 post offices, branches and station. The post office on Welch Avenue, which many students and members of the ISU and Ames community find useful, is among that number.

Recent losses are staggering. In 2007, the Postal Service lost some $5.3 billion. That number was halved for 2008, at $2.8 billion; but in 2009 it was up again. That year, the service lost more than $5 billion.

Those are billions — with a “B.”

FedEx and UPS are allowed to compete with the ordinary Postal Service in parcel delivery and urgent letter delivery, but the Constitution gives the government a monopoly on ordinary mail services.

Granted, mail delivery is important in any country that wants a robust commercial life or political discourse. But given those numbers above, the Postal Service clearly needs some restructuring. Much like Starbucks’ and Borders’ problems of having opened too many fancy, new stores and offering too many services too quickly, the Postal Service may in fact need to close hundreds if not thousands of its locations.

Re-trenching is not a bad option. Closing excess locations (is it really that difficult to get to downtown Ames from campus?) would allow the Postal Service to perform well at the things it can perform well, while leaving to other businesses the kinds of deliveries they can do better. Then, as conditions improve and the Postal Service starts to pay out less money than it takes in, it can expand in geographic scope.

Sustainability isn’t just an environmental concept; it applies to economics as well. If businesses expand too quickly, they venture into unstructured territory. When their business declines after an initial period of enthusiasm or other crises divert resources which were formerly marked for investment, they start to totter because of their fragility.

Build the frame before the house, and then fill it in. Don’t build a set of rooms on the ground and then expect to be able to go frame them afterward or be able to dig a foundation under the floor and cement it into place.

The Postal Service should try to understand the modern world we live in. With newer, faster methods of communicating — first it was faxes and later email, then instant messaging and text messages — the Postal Service needs to adjust. Offices and stations might not be necessary everywhere. Comparatively, few rural communities have grocery stores and shopping districts. Some don’t even have a church. Why should they have a post office?