Metro

Bronx is PO’d at post-office plan

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Bronx officials are going postal over a plan to possibly shutter a slew of post offices across the borough.

The financially troubled US Postal Service said yesterday that it will study 3,653 post offices, branches and stations for possible closing across the country — and in New York City, the hardest-hit area could be The Bronx, with 17 post offices on the chopping block.

“I am extremely concerned that 17 postal locations in The Bronx are being studied for potential closure,” said Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

“The Bronx cannot afford such a considerable loss of both jobs and commercial activity, and the federal government must seriously reconsider enacting any post-office closure plan that would have a serious negative impact on Bronx communities.”

The USPS operates 31,871 retail outlets across the country, down from 38,000 a decade ago, but in recent years, business has declined sharply as first-class mail gave way to the Internet.

The recession also took a bite out of advertising mail, on which the agency claims to have lost $8 billion last year.

Fourteen other post-office locations around the city could be facing the ax.

“It’s no secret that the Postal Service is looking to change the way we do a lot of things,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said yesterday.

“We do feel that we are still relevant to the American public and the economy, but we have to make some tough choices.”

The agency said that many of the shuttered offices may be replaced by “village” post offices, in which postal services are offered in local stores, libraries or government offices.

Donahoe added that just because a post office is mentioned in the study does not mean it will be closed.

Over the last four years, the USPS, which does not receive tax funds, has cut its staff by about 130,000 and reduced costs by $12 billion.

Meanwhile, a post office in a building that Benjamin Franklin once owned is on the list of branches that could close.

The post office in Philadelphia’s historic Old City neighborhood is the only one in the country that doesn’t fly a US flag. That’s because there wasn’t one in 1775, when Franklin founded what has evolved into today’s US Postal Service.

The only Colonial-themed post office operated by the USPS, it’s a tourist attraction that hand-cancels stamps with the B. Free Franklin postmark.

don.kaplan@nypost.com