The U.S. Postal Service will close six of its 80 district offices, eliminate jobs and offer early retirement to 150,000 employees as part of a cost-reduction effort.
According to the USPS, these steps will save the Service more than $100 million annually.
The six offices closing — located in Lake Mary, FL; North Reading, MA; Manchester, NH; Edison, NJ; Erie, PA, and Spokane, WA — house administrative functions and will not adversely affect customer service, mail delivery, Post Office operations or ZIP Codes, the Post Office said. The functions of these offices will be assumed by 10 district offices near the to-be-closed facilities.
Additionally, administrative staff positions at the district level nationwide are being reduced by 15 percent. More than 1,400 mail processing supervisor and management positions at nearly 400 facilities around the country also are being eliminated and nearly 150,000 employees nationwide are being given the opportunity to take an early retirement.
The U.S.P.S. employed 663,238 “career employees” as of Sept. 30, 2008, according to its most recent annual report. During its most recent fiscal year, it recorded a $2.8 billion net loss.
The announced actions follow on the heels of previous Postal Service cuts, which include:
Reducing work hours by 50 million;
Halting construction of new postal facilities;
Negotiating an agreement with the National Association of Letter Carriers that adjusts letter carrier routes to reflect diminished volume;
Freezing salaries of all Postal Service officers and executives;
Instituting a nationwide hiring freeze;
Reducing authorized staffing levels at postal headquarters and area offices by at least 15 percent;
Selling unused and under-utilized postal facilities;
Adjusting Post Office hours to better reflect customer use; and,
Consolidating mail processing operations.
The Cynic’s Take: Two thoughts: First, it’s a pity the USPS didn’t couple this announcement with a new, aggressive promotion of work-sharing discounts for high-volume mailers. Second, borderline-boilerplate language at the bottom of its announcement said it “is streamlining operations and improving efficiencies across the board in order to protect its ability to provide affordable, universal mail service”. If this is the case, can we look for the Service to table talk of reducing six-day-a-week delivery service to five? Didn’t think so.
