Update On USPS Bay-Valley District Post Office Closures
According to Lisa Herrera, Field Representative, East Bay Area Local #47 (California)
The Bay Valley District has reduce the number of Post Office Station closures/consolidations. It was reported two (2) offices were recommended for closures (Berkeley- Park Station & Richmond- Station A). Studies are still being conducted …for Berkeley-Landscape, Fremont-Niles and Hayward- Bradford Stations. Concord and Vallejo were completely removed from the list of closures.
Here is the previous list of post offices slated for closure:
Landscape, Park, and South Berkeley of the Berkeley Post Office.
Casa Correo and Todos Santos of the Concord Post Office Niles and Mission San Jose of the Fremont Post Office Bradford and Mount Eden of the Hayward Post Office Point Richmond, Station A, Mira Vista and San Pablo of the Richmond Post Office American Canyon and Station A of the Vallejo Post Office
USPS: 371 Retail Stations And Branches Still Under Review For Closure
U.S. Postal Service Continues Review of Stations and Branches
Removing Cost and Maintaining Customer Access Remain Goals
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service announced today that 371 retail stations and branches remain under consideration for possible consolidation.
Today’s announcement updates a review process begun earlier this summer that examined approximately 3,600 stations and branches in urban and suburban areas across the country, focusing on facilities in relatively close proximity to one another, to determine where consolidations might be feasible, while maintaining customer access to postal services.
With nearly 37,000 Post Offices, stations, branches, contract and community post offices, the Postal Service has the largest retail network in the United States. An additional 56,000 locations such as supermarkets, drug stores, and other retailers sell postage and selected postal services. Nearly 18,000 ATMs also dispense sheets of stamps. But customers do not have to visit a physical building to purchase products and services; postage can be bought at usps.com and printed on personal computers.
The only provider of mail service to every home and business address in the country, the Postal Service is committed to providing reliable, secure, affordable service with convenient access. Unlike most federal agencies, America’s national mail system receives no tax subsidy for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
Additional efficiency initiatives are continuing. Reducing over-capacity in retail and delivery operations is a good business move. Every effort will be made to maintain and improve customer access to postal services.
Today’s announcement is part of the Station and Branch Optimization and Consolidation initiative that is currently being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission. As part of this proceeding, the Postal Service has filed periodic updates identifying the retail stations and branches that remain under consideration.
The filing does not represent a final decision on consolidation. To date, no facility-specific final decisions have been made as a result of this initiative.
Click here for the list of stations and branches currently being reviewed
Editorial: USPS Saving $356,540 On East Bay Station Closures–Losing $10 Million
Save $356,540- Lose $10,000,000
As our members are painfully aware the District is considering closing several stations and branches in our Local’s jurisdiction. This is part of the Postal Service’s plans to close or “consolidate” thousands of stations throughout the country. Although the number of such stations currently under review was reduced to 413 recently, it is just a matter of time before others are added.
A decision is expected by Oct. 2 on whether the following stations in our Local will be closed.
- Landscape, Park, and South Berkeley of the Berkeley Post Office.
- Casa Correo and Todos Santos of the Concord Post Office
- Niles and Mission San Jose of the Fremont Post Office
- Bradford and Mount Eden of the Hayward Post Office
- Point Richmond, Station A, Mira Vista and San Pablo of the Richmond Post Office
- American Canyon and Station A of the Vallejo Post Office
Deleted from an earlier list were Country Club of the Moraga Post Office and Station A of the Walnut Creek Post Office .
The irony of the Postal Service’s anticipated closure of these stations is that they yielded $10,462,613 in revenue in 2008 and are projected to yield $9,672,090 in 2009 –a reduction of only 7.5%. The lease costs for the buildings are $549,237 per year, which represents less than 6% of the revenue expected this year. Additionally, canceling the leases early would cost the Postal Service an additional $192,697 in penalties, decreasing the true cost of operating the stations to only $356,540—less than 4% of the expected revenue for 2009.
These 15 stations are thus extremely profitable. Even Postmaster General John Potter stated on Aug. 6 before a Senate Subcommittee that the savings from closing stations would be “modest at best”. The 29 Clerks who work in the stations would have to be assigned to other work in their respective Post Offices, so there would be no real savings there.
Postal customers would have to travel further to obtain service. Approximately 6700 box holders would be required to relocate, change their addresses, and many will likely simply discontinue their service. Some customers may decide to patronize the Postal Service’s competitors, and never return.
Closing the stations clearly makes no sense and would actually be against the real interests of the Postal Service, as well as well employees and the public. We need to fight this ill-advised plan.
by Stephen Lysaght, President, East Bay Area Local #47 (California)
USPS Cuts Closure List Of Stations And Branches From 677 to 413
Updated List in Conflict With Yesterday’s Filing With PRC which lists 750 stations and branches is on consolidation list
Fewer Retail Offices Remain Under Review for Consolidation
USPS Moves to Remove Cost and Maintain Customer Access
The Postal Service announced today that 413 retail stations and branches remain under consideration for possible consolidation. Today’s announcement updates a study begun earlier this summer that examined a wide range of stations and branches in urban and suburban areas across the country, focusing on offices in close proximity to determine where consolidations might be feasible, while maintaining customer access to postal services.
With nearly 37,000 Post Offices, stations, branches, contract and community post offices, the U.S. Postal Service has the largest retail network in the United States. In addition, about 56,000 other locations such as supermarkets, drug stores, and other retailers sell postage and selected postal services. Nearly 18,000 automated teller machines (ATMs) also dispense sheets of stamps. And, postage can be purchased and printed on personal computers at usps.com.
The only provider of mail service to every home and business address in the country, the Postal Service is committed to providing reliable, secure, affordable postal services with convenient access. Unlike most federal agencies, America’s national mail system receives no tax subsidy for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
The current deep national recession has exacerbated erosion in First-Class Mail volumes due to a change in consumer preferences to electronic systems for instant messaging, invoicing and bill payment. Mail volume in 2009 is projected to be as much as 20 billion fewer pieces than in 2008. Still, mail volume in 2009 will be in the neighborhood of 170 billion pieces of mail.
To offset the current extremely difficult financial position, the Postal Service has successfully removed more than $6 billion in cost in 2009, including:
- Cutting more than 100 million work hours, the equivalent of 57,000 positions;
- Closing six district administrative offices;
- Adjusting carrier routes to reflect diminished volume and eliminating nearly 12,000 carrier routes;
- Instituting a nationwide hiring freeze;
- Reducing authorized staffing levels at national and regional offices by 15 percent;
- Selling unused and under-utilized postal facilities;
- Adjusting Post Office hours to better reflect customer use;
- Consolidating mail processing operations;
- Halting construction of new postal facilities; and
- Freezing salaries of all Postal Service officers and executives.
Additional efficiency initiatives are continuing. Reducing over-capacity in retail and delivery operations is a good business move. Every effort will be made to maintain and improve customer access to postal services.’
Today’s announcement is part of the Station and Branch Optimization and Consolidation initiative that is currently being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). As part of this proceeding, the Postal Service is required to file with the PRC the names of facilities under review.
The filing does not represent a final decision on consolidation. No final actions will be taken regarding consolidation as a result of this initiative until after Oct. 2, 2009.
Click here for the list of stations and branches currently being reviewed.
USPS Increases Its Stations And Branches Closure List From 677 To 750
Updated list provided to the union this week includes Level 22 and below post offices
Initially the USPS review was limited to Post Offices at or above EAS Level 24..
The Postal Service states that the Initiative already began in May with the examination of the portion of the retail network consisting of stations and branches that report to Postmasters at or above the USPS Executive & Administrative Schedule level 24 pay grade.
From the Washington Post
The Postal Service will provide on Wednesday an updated list of facilities to be considered for possible closure, according to a letter sent Friday to the Postal Regulatory Commission. The list is sure to be scrutinized by impacted communities and lawmakers who have already criticized the Postal Service for its handling of the closure process. The list will identify the final collection of postal stations and branches to be considered for closure or consolidation. Earlier this summer, the Postal Service provided lawmakers with a list of 677 possible sites for closure. That number has since grown to 750 after further evaluation of eligible sites, according to Friday’s letter. Despite that high number, Postal officials privately suggest the final list will likely number around 200. Washington Post
Excerpt from letter(PDF) sent to Postal Regulatory Commision on Friday
The response to Question No. 15 is expected to be filed on Wednesday, September 2, 2009. That question requests certain data for each of the stations and branches that are candidates for discontinuance review as a part of the initiative under review in this docket. Originally estimated to be at least 3200, that number is expected to be approximately 3600.
As a related matter, the Postal Service is preparing to supplement USPS Library Reference N2009-1/4 on September 2nd. Originally filed on July 30th, that Library
Reference contains a list of 677 stations and branches that, as of July 28th, had been identified by the SBOC initial pre-screening process as candidates for further
discontinuance study. Further progress in pre-screening of additional facilities and corrections to the original list indicate an increase in that number to approximately 750.
The initiation of discontinuance studies in the field has led to numerous discontinuance feasibility determinations. Accordingly, it is expected that the September 2nd update to USPS Library Reference N2009-1/4 also will identify the subset of these approximately 750 stations and branches that, as of September 2nd, remain as candidates for discontinuance review. Subsequent updates if Library Reference N2009-1/4 will report further changes in facility status.
The narrowing of the scope to fewer than 750 stations and branches, as will be reflected in the September 2nd Library Reference N2009-1/4 update, motivates the
Postal Service to request the Commission’s reconsideration of its original request for all seven of the data elements enumerated in Question 15 for all of the approximately 3600 original candidate stations and branches. Accordingly, in a motion to be filed before September 2nd, the Postal Service will request permission to provide all of those data elements only for the stations and branches identified in the updated version of USPS Library Reference N2009-1/4, while providing only data elements (1) and (2) for the approximately 2900 stations and branches that will not be reflected in the update to that Library Reference.