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Rep. John Carter

Mr. Speaker, over the past month, I've heard from many of my constituents about the closing of the contract post office in my district, the South Temple Post Office.

My constituents enjoy going to the South Temple Post Office because it is fast, efficient and the service is outstanding. However, the United States Postal Service recently announced it would be closing this office, along with 19 other contract postal units.

Why?

Because these contract post offices are not hiring enough union workers or are, allegedly, taking union jobs away from the main branches. In other words, even though the United States Postal Service was $8.5 billion in the hole in 2010 and even though the owner of the South Temple Post Office sends a check of $1 million every year to the postal service under their contract, they have decided to close it because of union dispute.

This is just plain wrong. My constituents should have a choice of what post office they want to use and to use the one that serves them the best. If the privately owned contract office is performing better, they should be able to use that privately owned contract office.

Rest assured, I will fight this nonsense and try to get this post office kept open.