Students and union leaders have rallied to save the Boston College post office after news of a possible discontinuation was released last month.

Reeling from the recession and left overextended in a changing world of communication, the United States Postal Service (USPS) was placed on the Government Accounting Office’s “high risk” list after a loss of over $7 billion last year. It now faces a government-mandated restructuring. Nine Boston branches face review, including still-profitable offices at BU, MIT, Tufts, and Babson.

“I heard about the review… a few weeks ago,” said Kristoffer Munden, Vice President of the College Democrats. “The College Democrats decided to move forward with a letter writing campaign.” The Save the Post Office campaign has so far been publicized mainly through online social media. “Early next week, we will print the letters individually then mail them to Postmaster Holland…we’re confident that [he] will value our opinion.”

Postmaster James J. Holland was sympathetic but reiterated the need for reorganization. “No final decision has been made regarding the future of the BC post office,” he said. However, “mail volumes continue to plummet as expenses increase. BC post office revenue, customer visits and total transactions have decreased significantly over last year. We believe that these trends, unfortunately, will continue.”

No American Postal Workers Union officials could be reached about the issue, as the entire roster of officers was attending a conference in Las Vegas. However, President Moe Lepore has attempted to whip up support at MIT and BU with a fervent form letter to the editor, in which he accuses “those in positions of authority” of “deficient financial practices”.

Lepore does raise an important point when he asks, “if the Postal Service is supposedly bleeding money, why would it consider closing a profitable operation?” The BC office generated roughly $100,000 in profit for USPS last year.

“There may be a valid point there, as far as being in the black, but you have to look at the trend as well. If you own a business that’s losing 10% per year, do you wait until you’ve lost 90%, or do you do something about it now?” asked Ann Powers, Communications Officer of USPS Boston.

Furthermore, argued Postmaster Holland, the USPS’ mandate has nothing to do with reaping profit in the cities. “The Postal Service is tasked with providing regular and effective service across the nation in all communities, urban and rural.” If revenues in Boston have dropped sharply, then revenues in rural areas have fallen off a cliff. “The world is changing rapidly. Communication in today’s world has certainly shifted from written communication to electronic…We expect that mail volume will continue to decline over the next 5 years.”

As USPS readied itself for a continuing decline in business from recession and changing communication practices, Moe Lepore was not giving up without a fight. “In mid-September we will be leafleting your campus to further inform you of our collective plight,” he promised to the MIT Tech and BU Daily Free Press.

“There has been some minimal distribution of fl yers from the union on our campus,” reported John Hawkinson, News Editor of The Tech. “The lifetime of a postered flyer is approximately 1/2 week, and I’m not aware of there being more than one round of such flyers.”

As the union continued its stand, Munden has advice for BC students who want to get involved. “In addition to signing the letter, students should use the post office, and tell their friends that it actually exists.”