Postal Service to close dozens of mail centers
The U.S. Postal Service said this week that it would begin shuttering dozens of
mail processing centers next year, a move it said was necessary because of
congressional inaction on postal reform.
The USPS, which has lost more than $28 billion
since the start of fiscal 2011, says that a new round of processing
consolidation centers will save the agency roughly $750 million a year.
According to the plan released Monday, the agency will consolidate
as many as 82 facilities starting in January, a process it says will be completed
in time for the 2015 holiday season.
That’s on top of the 141 centers that have been shuttered over the
last couple of years, which the agency says has already produced $865 million a
year in savings.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and other postal officials have
long said that the agency was saddled with too many processing centers, given
the dramatic drop in first-class mail volume in recent years.
At the same time, the USPS is also shipping an ever-growing number
of packages, due in large part to the rise in online shopping.
The agency says the newest round of consolidations won’t lead to
any layoffs, with a spokesman insisting that “every effort will be made” to
find new jobs for employees at the shuttered processing facilities and that the
agency will continue to rely on retirements to pare down its workforce.
In a release, the agency also made clear that the congressional
negotiations over revamping the Postal Service — which have gone on for years
without a breakthrough — played a role in their decision to move forward with
the consolidations, as did its efforts to increase stamp prices.
“The uncertainty regarding legislative reform and review of postal
rates in the courts continues to delay needed capital investments in network
operations and undermine the future financial viability of the Postal Service,”
the agency said in the release.
The USPS has turned to a number of cost-cutting measures in recent
years, including shortening hours at certain local post offices.
But Congress would need to strike a deal on some of the most
contentious issues when it comes to the Postal Service’s future, including
Saturday delivery and the agency’s required prepayments for future retirees’
healthcare.
Postal unions were quick to criticize the consolidations, which
will lead to delays in mail delivery that labor groups say will reduce
confidence in the postal system.
“This is a direct assault on service to the people of the country,
on postal workers and on the Postal Service’s own network,” said Mark Dimondstein,
the president of the American Postal Workers Union.
“We need a Postmaster General who will champion the Postal
Service,” he added, insisting that ”Donahoe is on a rampage to destroy it.”
Historically, many lawmakers, especially Democrats, have also been
cool to the idea of closing mail processing centers, given the lost jobs and
slower delivery times.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.),
one of the key lawmakers working on postal reform, said it was no surprise that
the USPS moved ahead with the consolidations, given the problems congressional
negotiators are having.
But Carper also warned the agency that customers around the
country already believe the Postal Service is falling short when it comes to
delivering the mail.
“Closing more mail processing centers will only make these
existing problems worse and hurt the Postal Service’s efforts to generate new
mail volume and remain competitive in the growing package delivery market,”
Carper said in a statement.
Post's franchise plan sparks pay cut fears
Hundreds
of workers could face drastic pay cuts under New Zealand Post's new franchising
model.
Last
month NZ Post announced it would close the Mana, Thorndon and Karori Post Shops
and franchise postal services to private businesses.
The
announcements came as NZ Post tries to cope with the decline of postage - in
the 2012-13 financial year, 63 million fewer items were posted than the year
before, a 7.5 per cent reduction. The drop-off during 2013-14 is expected to be
even higher.
In
Wellington and Hawke's Bay, NZ Post has closed
or will soon close shops in Thorndon, Karori, Mana, Wainuiomata, Raumati Beach
The
Thorndon and Karori PostShop closures will put 12 jobs and popular services at
risk. Six staff work in each shop and may not be employed by NZ Post after the
move.
Up
to 2000 workers, from posties to management and backroom staff, could lose
their jobs as the state-owned agency moves to reduce property costs amid a
decline in traditional mail delivery caused largely by the rise of internet-
based transactions.
Spokesman
Richard Trow said NZ Post was "committed to having 880 points of presence
in the community".
Most
of the PostShop services would still be available inside other businesses, such
as FourSquare or PaperPlus, which already happened at 136 sites nationwide, he
said.
NZ
Post called the process "substitution", and said there would be no
loss of "points of presence" in Wellington
The
Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which represents 3500
postal workers, said overseas experience showed workers could face pay cuts of
up to 30 per cent by moving to a franchise.
The
initial closure of 25 stores would affect about 160 workers, and union national
industry organiser for communications Joe Gallagher said it was a challenging
time as the union worked with NZ Post to understand the implications of the
change.
"It's
particularly difficult for employees who've been working for 25 to 30 years
when the Government keeps talking about a rock star economy, but these people
face a 30 per cent pay cut, which is a concern for us," Gallagher said.
NZ
Post store network general manager John Andrews said: "We can't guarantee
what a third-party employer pays its employees. Our focus at the moment is
supporting our staff through these changes."
Porirua
Mayor Nick Leggett and Mana MP Kris Faafoi have been outspoken in opposition to
the closure of the Mana store, as has Grey Power.
Last
month Faafoi's office received more than 800 replies to a survey the MP sent
out when he heard the PostShop was to be downscaled and services shifted from
its premises at 99 Mana Esplanade.
More
than 95 per cent wanted Mana PostShop to stay as it was, Faafoi said.
Grey
Power central zone representative Peter Matcham said that, as long as services
remained through franchises, it was not necessarily of great concern. However,
if it led to a loss of services from the community - both postal and Kiwibank -
it would be a different ballgame.
If
the postal service was to be run as a commercial operation, it had to react to
changing times.
"It's
fair to say the people Grey Power represent are higher users of the postal
service in general. It's not necessarily because they aren't au fait with
computers, just that that is how they've always done it."
Former
NZ Post boss Elmar Toime said the new model was part of an overseas trend
towards private shops running postal services, and there was "less and
less need" to have formal post offices. Toime, a former executive deputy
chairman of Britain
- The Dominion Post
