suggest the postal service could shut down altogether by winter. the crisis is so easy to see in towns like star tannery, virginia, with just 400 homes. it cost $86,000 to run the post office there last year. it brought in only $30,000. e postal service is suggestingng closing this office along with 3,700 others. i think the post office provides a really vital service. not everybody in this country has access to what we take for granted. reporter: as much of an american institution as it is, the fact is with e-mail and internet business and online shopping, there is less in the mail every day. which means fewer stamps, which means less revenue. our infrastructure was built to handle more demand than we have today. reporter: the post office delivered 167 million pieces of mail last year. down 22% from just five years ago.
and without major and fast congressional action, some suggest the postal service could shut down altogether by winter. the crisis is so easy to see in towns like star tannery, rginia, with just 400 homes. it cost $86,000 to run the post office there last year. it brought in only $30,000. the postal service is suggesting closing this office along with 3,700 others. i think the post office provides a really vital service. not everybody in this country has access to what we take for granted. reporter: as much of an american institution as it is, the fact is with e-mail and internet business and online shopping, there is less in the mail every day. which means fewer stamps, which means less revenue. our infrastructure was built to handle more demand than we have today. reporter: the post office delivered 167 billion pieces of