Wow! Could This Be? The US Postal Service Looking At ObamaCare's 29-Hour Work Week?

It could be. The article doesn't come right out and say it, and my hunch is that the cut in hours would have come anyway, but with the push by industry to cut employees to 29 hours/week wherever possible to save on health insurance costs, one has to bet that this issue came up in discussions about hourly cuts.

The link is at the Rapid City Journal.

The latest U.S. Postal Service plan to save money will hit hard in rural America, including in South Dakota, where more than 200 post offices in mostly small towns are likely to see a reduction in counter service.

Residents of Keystone will find out firsthand about the postal cuts on Tuesday evening, when residents can come to the town's small post office, at 111 Winter St., to give input on the proposal to reduce service hours.

Cue up Connie Francis.

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Back to the linked article, another story line. Cut and paste from the article:

In Keystone, residents will have a choice to close their local office or accept service reductions. The office could be closed if more than 60 percent of Keystone residents opt to close it; otherwise the Keystone post office would be open six hours each weekday, a 30-minute daily reduction, he said.

Maybe I'm misreading this but that paragraph suggests that the folks have a tough decision to make: a) close the post office entirely; or, b) a 30-minute daily reduction in counter service.

Is it just me, or am I missing something. Chester, that's rhetorical. Please don't comment.

Go back and read that article to the end; it borders on inanity. Or insanity. Memo to self: file under "Nuts."

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Actually, the more one thinks about it, it has to be health care costs.  Except for counter hours, all other post office hours / services remain intact. Certainly 30 minutes / day / wages / counter service is not the difference whether a post office stays open or not. Half an hour's pay each day? No, but cutting to 29 hours will eliminate the huge health care expense.