Proposes Comprehensive Changes to Nationwide Infrastructure
WASHINGTON — Faced with a massive nationwide infrastructure that is no longer financially sustainable, the U.S. Postal Service today proposed sweeping changes designed to save the organization up to $3 billion a year by cutting its network of processing facilities by over half and adjusting service standards.
Proposals under consideration include studying nearly 250 processing facilities for possible consolidation or closure, reducing mail processing equipment by as much as 50 percent, dramatically decreasing the nationwide transportation network, adjusting the workforce size by as many as 35,000 positions, and revising service standards for First-Class Mail.
“We are forced to face a new reality today,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “First-Class Mail supports the organization and drives network requirements. With the dramatic decline in mail volume and the resulting excess capacity, maintaining a vast national infrastructure is no longer realistic. Since 2006, we have closed 186 facilities, removed more than 1,500 pieces of mail processing equipment, decreased employee complement by more than 110,000 through attrition and reduced costs by $12 billion.”
Mail volume has declined by more than 43 billion pieces in the past 5 years and is continuing to decline. First-Class Mail has dropped 25 percent and single piece First-Class Mail — letters bearing postage stamps — has declined 36 percent in the same timeframe, and nearly 50 percent in the past ten years. The decline has created substantial excess capacity within the postal processing network.
The mail processing network itself was constructed to process and deliver First-Class Mail within a 1–3 day window depending on where the mail is sent and delivered. With the proposed change, the new service standard would become 2–3 days, meaning that on average, customers would no longer receive mail the day after it was mailed. If implemented, the change in service standards would allow for significant infrastructure changes to be made across the nation.
“Our employees continue to do a terrific job for our customers and are among the most dedicated workforce anywhere. These are difficult times and our announcement today does not reflect on their commitment to service,” added Donahoe.
An Advance Notice of Rulemaking pertaining to the proposed overnight service standard changes was submitted to the Federal Register earlier today. A copy of the submission can be found at the URL below. The Postal Service intends to file with the Postal Regulatory Commission this fall.
source USPS Press Release
FACE A NEW REALITY…give me a break…..pure bullshit………call it a “Artificial Crisis”………fact: Reason for the Post Office demise is pure & simple, 2006 Mandated Act……….expecting ANY Company in the private sector to pay 5.7 BILLION a YEAR before yo even open your doors, would sink ANY business…..Congress is a JOKE….they’re to blame.
TO add to MICHAEL PAGLIARO comments about Route Inspectors (sic?).
We had 2 of them in our Branch of 13 routes who took 8 weeks to talk about their sex lifes to each other and have the computer square off the routes. One route they had driving over a non existing bridge and another had to do 4 u turns on a 3 block laong road.
Their Boss finally told to finsh their Inspections because they had taken too long already. They had to ask a carrier how to get to the Interstate. Guess which bridge he had them drive to.
The GOAL is 1 Manager/Cubicle person for every 1 person who actually touches the mail.
We have shortages of equipment to move the mail, but they remove more equipment from service to save money. How does that figure out, the equipment cases, apcs, and hampers have already been paid for. They don’t sell them but leave them in the open to rust or become mosquito havens.
They are closing our PD&C which is owned by the Post Office, so they can process the mail at a 2 leased buildings 70 miles away. I wonder who owns the buildings and trucking companies which will be trucking the mail around the state.
We have been told that they will only be needing 53 clerks to man the 3 major POs here and that the other 200 – 300 clerks will be LAID OFF, breaking the Contract that DONAHOE just signed.
Get RID OF THE 200,000 managers and Cubicle people and you will have a LEAN WORKING FORCE. People who actual know how to and can do the work.
But NO YOU CUT THE MUSCLE OUT OF THE USPS AND KEEP THE FAT! Oh that’s right you are the FAT.
I hope GOD is watching!
200k.
you want to get 299k employees to leave now?
give us 6 years time added, and $ 1000. per year of service….
we will be gone .
save the postal service, a great part of our nation.
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Future reality of Postal Service will be 5 day business delivery and 3 day residential delivery! Will you really miss your junk mail every day?
Eliminate all Areas & Districts.
HERE IS THE BEST WAY TO CUT TREMENDOUS FAT FROM THE PO. GET RID OF ALL ROUTE TESTERS, ROUTE EXAMINERS. THEY ARE A WASTE OF 100s OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. EACH STATION GETS DAILY COUNTS OF MAIL OFF THE MACHINES WCICH PROCESS THE MAIL. YOU TAKE THE COUNTS PER ROUTE, DISECT IT, ANALYZE IT, STUDY IT FOR A SHORT TIME AND EACH INDIVIDUAL STATION CAN ADJUST WORK ASSIGNMENTS AND ROUTES SITTING DOWN WITH THE UNION, THE WORKERS AND THE STATION MANAGER. THAT’S IT. YOU DON’T NEED HORDES OF SO CALLED ROUTE TESTERS THAT KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ROUTES TO INTERFERE. SEND THESE PHONY WORKERS WITH CLIP BOARDS BACK TO CRAFT AND MAKE THEM WORK FOR A CHANGE!!!
Poor mangement is the word of the day. When the postal service will send someone 100 miles, and spend $125 to pick up a missent pakage that cost $5 then we have got real problems. They can consolidate/ close as many Post Offices as they want, but it won’t solve anything!
Hey mailman just another example of missmanagement ! How many managers are they getting rid of ? It’s contract time again . Just wait 5 minutes after the contract is reached and they will seem to find billions for pay for ignorance bonuses .
Reduce mail processing equipment? Didn’t they just spend $1.2BILLION on the flat sorting machines? Since they don’t work (we’ve got some 11 hour routes here since the “adjustments” ), and we still have to case the flats, are they getting rid of those? I’ve been getting 100-130 parcels a day ( 10-20 used to be my average) that we have to wait an hour or more until they finish scanning and sorting them, 3 clerks for 30 routes. OT every day. Should have spent that money on UPS type equipment for parcels. Magazines are the wave of the past. $1.2 BILLION to sort bulk catalogs.
Guess they will have to get rid of employees and cut pay/benefits for the rest of us as we are obviously why the PO can’t make any money.