WASHINGTON – At a time when half of Maine’s post offices have decreased operating hours, Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, vowed Wednesday to keep up the pressure on the U.S. Postal Service to retain affordable postage rates, frequent delivery, and convenient access to retail services.

“It is important to me that my constituents living in the north woods, or out on the islands, or in our many rural small towns, have the same access to postal services as the people of our cities,” Collins said during a hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which she chairs.

James A. Johnson, co-chair of the President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service testified that while he supports universal service, “some [post offices] should be closed.”

The commission just completed a year-long study that focused on a half billion-dollar revenue shortfall the Postal Service experienced in a single quarter earlier this year.

In April, Sens. Collins and Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., succeeded in getting passed a bill they introduced to help the postal service with some of its financial problems. The legislation corrected an existing law that caused the postal service to over-fund the Civil Service Retirement System by about $71 billion dollars over 60 years.

As a result of the bill, the Postal Service was able to delay its next rate increase until 2006 and to more aggressively pay down billions of dollars in debt owed to the U.S. Treasury.

Despite those gains, Johnson said one of the commission’s major concerns is the long-term decline in first-class mail volumes, which stems from cheaper alternatives, such as e-mail. Johnson warned that if the issue isn’t addressed, the public might have to deal with increasing postal rates.

“We believe the committee needs to address many of these challenges,” Johnson said. “And if we don’t address the challenges now, there will be a time when we will have destructive rate increases.”President Bush created the President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service in December 2002 to identify the operational, structural and financial challenges facing the postal service, which employs approximately 843,000 people.

In a letter sent to Postmaster General John E. Potter on Sept. 10, Collins requested information on why almost 200 of Maine’s 425 post offices have cut hours, and 99 more have posted notices describing pending cuts.

“I am well aware of the Postal Service’s need to reduce operating costs,” Collins wrote. “But cutting back on service to rural customers is not the solution.”

Gerry McKiernan, a spokesman for the postal service said a response to Collins letter is in the works, but changes in hours at post offices often result from customer surveys.

“It’s not effective to keep a post office open from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. if no one’s coming in during that time,” McKiernan said. “We’re working with both [Maine] senators so that we can make sure our customers get the service that they need, and at the same time, allowing us to affect efficiency.”

Johnson recommended decreasing the postal service’s workforce, which now accounts for 76 percent of the agency’s expenses, mostly through retirement; creating a board of directors to serve as a governing body, as well as a regulatory board; and rejected the privatization of the postal service.