U.S. Postal Service Unveils New Option

• The Postal Service unveiled a new option Wednesday, backing off original plans to close as many as 3,700 small post offices across the U.S. in the next few months. Now the Postal Service will consider keeping the post offices open while reducing daily retail hours after residents made it clear at community meetings they wanted their post offices to stay open. The Postal Service will do another review with new criteria and hold another round of community meetings and make final decisions during the next two years. The Postal Service still plans to keep other options open, including offering services at a nearby post office, creating a village post office and providing delivery service through a new rural route.