Post offices in the news again, including as a rural issue

NPR interviewed U.S. Senator Jon Tester of Montana today about the abrupt disappearance of "blue boxes" from Montana. He mentioned the need for rural folks to get lots of things via the U.S.P.S. including prescriptions medicines, tractor parts, and ballots.  He suggests that the rural need for the Post Office is greater because of the distances rural residents must drive to get things if and when they can't get them by mail.

I've seen similar reports about other blue collection box disappearances from more urban locales. 

It's not the first time this blog has taken up the rural implications of crises in the U.S.P.S.  Some earlier posts are here (2012), here (2011), here (2012) and, most recently in the coronavirus context, here (May 2020).