Rep. Meehan Calls for OIG Review of USPS Decision to Consolidate SE Pennsylvania Mail Center
Thursday February 23, 2012
Springfield, PA – U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan (PA-07) today called for an independent review of the United States Postal Service (USPS) decision to consolidate the Southeastern Pennsylvania Processing and Distribution Center. The center, located in Wayne, is set to be consolidated into the Philadelphia distribution center.
“The Southeastern PA facility has consistently been ranked among the top ten most efficient mail processing centers in the country,” said Meehan. “I appreciate the need for the Postal Service to make consolidations to reflect the changing nature of its business. But I think in this case, key questions have gone unanswered. If the goal of the consolidation process is to promote efficiencies for customers and improve the Postal Service’s fiscal situation, then it defies common sense to close down this highly efficient and productive facility.”
In a letter to the USPS, Meehan urged the Office of the Inspector General to review the Postal Service’s decision to consolidate this distribution center.
Meehan noted that he has heard from local business leaders who worry that the consolidation will jeopardize their ability to serve their own customers, and that threatens jobs in our region.
Click here to read the letter in its entirety (PDF)
NALC Response to USPS mail-processing announcement
The Postal Service has announced its plans for restructuring its mail processing operations across the country. The plan would close or merge some 223 of the 264 processing plants reviewed over the past six months. The NALC Contract Administration Unit is working with the NALC’s 15 regional offices to determine which delivery units, if any, might be affected by the plans. The so-called “network optimization” plan could result in the elimination of 35,000 mail processing jobs through attrition. The Postal Service issued its plan despite its commitment to congressional leaders in December to put a moratorium on plant closings until May 15, and despite the fact that the Postal Regulatory Commission has yet to complete its review of the plan. “NALC remains deeply concerned about any plans that would degrade our networks, reduce service quality or undermine our ability to develop new business in the future,” NALC President Fred Rolando said.
via NALC
Senator Levin to Postmaster General: Show Me the Data
Friday, February 24, 2012
WASHINGTON – In a letter to the postmaster general, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., today asked for additional information about the U.S. Postal Service’s plans for the potential consolidation of mail processing facilities in Gaylord, Iron Mountain, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Saginaw beginning this summer.
“You have provided an estimate of the annual savings from each closure and consolidation but no data on how these figures were reached,” Levin wrote to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “In order to better understand how the Postal Service reached its conclusions, please provide me with an unredacted copy of each Area Mail Processing Study (AMP) conducted for the facilities in Michigan.” Read more
USPS Consolidation List – Excel Version
Here is the excel version of the USPS Consolidation List
USPS Consolidation List – Excel Version
Sen. Sanders Calls Postal Service Plan ‘Deeply Flawed’
The U.S. Postal Service on Thursday informed tens of thousands of employees that it plans to close mail processing facilities. The decisions are not final. No closings will occur before May 15. Postmaster General Patrick Donahue agreed to that timetable under moratorium proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders to give Congress time to act. “The plan announced today by the U.S. Postal Service is deeply flawed and Congress must change it. I expect comprehensive postal reform legislation to be on the floor of the Senate within the next few weeks,” Sanders added.
“At a time when the Postal Service is competing against the instantaneous delivery of information from email and the Internet, slowing down mail delivery service will result in less business and less revenue, and will bring about a death spiral for this institution which is so vitally important for all Americans,” Sanders said.
“A critical weakness of the current Postal Service plan is that it ignores the onerous financial burden being placed on the Postal Service by $5.5 billion a year in pre-payments for future retiree health benefits. According to the Postal Service inspector general, those payments are no longer necessary because of the $45 billion which that account already has accumulated,” Sanders added. “The Postal Service needs to be reformed not by massive cuts, but by a new entrepreneurial business model which expands the products and services the post office can sell in the 21st century digital age.”
Read more about an effort by a group of 27 senators calling for “significant improvements” in a bill to modernize the U.S. Postal Service »
Read the letter to Sanders from the Postal Service inspector general saying a big funding cushion already has been built into the mail service’s health benefit funds »
USPS Consolidation List
Here is the plant consolidation list provided to the APWU today:
Video: Decision to close Albany, GA processing plant may come sooner
Filed under: consolidations, post office closings, postal, postal news, usps
ALBANY, GA –A decision to close the Albany postal processing plant may come sooner than expected.
Assistant Dougherty County Administrator Michael McCoy sat in on a webinar by the US Postal Service which stated that employees would be notified of their employment status February 23.
Albany’s processing plant is in danger of being consolidated with the one in Tallahassee, Florida
Read more: Decision to close processing plant may come sooner : News : MySouthwestGA.com.
Video: Hundreds of Western New Yorkers join fight to save mail center
Filed under: consolidations, post office closings, postal, postal news, usps, videos
WNYers join fight to save mail center: wivb.com
CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) – Frustration and fury reigned the night as hundreds of western New Yorkers joined the fight to save Buffalo’s William Street Post Office.
About 200 outraged citizens, elected officials and Postal Service employees lit up the mic at a public meeting to discuss a proposal to close the William Street processing and distribution center.
Congressman Brian Higgins said, “But I want you to know something. This is not the end of our fight, it’s the beginning.”
The Postal Service argues consolidating with the Rochester facility would save $28.8 million a year.
source: WNYers join fight to save mail center | WIVB.com.
Rage over plan to close postal plant: wivb.com
Some tempers flared at a public hearing Wednesday night on the plan to shut down the main post office on William Street.
People refused to yield the microphone, and lit into Postal Service managers over the plan to close the William Street facility.
“Fatally flawed” and “lacking integrity” – those are just a few of the more polite terms used by citizens, elected officials, and Postal Service employees, who are outraged over a proposal to close the Processing and Distribution Center on William Street.
source: Rage over plan to close postal plant| WIVB.com
Video: Another Siouxland USPS Processing Plant on the chopping block
Filed under: consolidations, postal, postal news, usps, videos
Norfolk USPS closure could cause pharmacy headaches – Folks in Norfolk, Nebraska will try to convince the United States Postal Service to keep their postal processing center open Monday night. The Postal Service will host a meeting to discuss its proposal to close the operation, just as it did with Sioux City’s processing center. The Norfolk operation would be moved to the processing center in Omaha as a way to save the postal service money. The meeting begins at five at the Lifelong Learning Center at Northeast Community College. Last month, Sioux City’s mail processing center closed for good as operations went north to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.Now another Siouxland processing plant is on the chopping block as the US Postal Service looks for ways to save. Read more
USPS Drive Initiative In High Gear To Study Closing 250 Mail Processing Plants
Filed under: consolidations, postal, postal news, usps, USPS News Link
DRIVE INITIATIVE ON NETWORK OPTIMIZATION MOVES AHEAD
 |
| Members of the Network Optimization team — including employees whose expertise spans most USPS functions — discuss the plant consolidation/closure study. Vice President, Operations, David Williams, the team leader, is second from right. |
The Postal Service’s Network Optimization Initiative — a study to determine whether more than 250 processing plants should be closed or consolidated — is well underway.
The goal of the network optimization initiative is to create a smaller, simpler and more flexible processing system scaled to mee t projected mail volume, which has declined by more than 43 billion pieces in the past 5 years. First-Class Mail has dropped 25 percent and single piece First-Class Mail has declined 36 percent in the same timeframe. The decline has created substantial excess capacity within the postal processing network.
The study — one of 36 initiatives that make up the Delivering Results, Innovation, Value and Efficiency (DRIVE) program — is being conducted by an integrated team of employees that span nearly all functions within the USPS. The cross-functional team is headed by Dave Williams, vice president, Network Operations.
Team members are coordinating the steps necessary to meet DRIVE goals. Operations representatives, for example, are designing the new network, while representatives from Government Relations and the Law Department are coordinating with Capitol Hill and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). Additionally, members from Corporate Communications, Supply Management, Consumer and Industry Affairs, and other departments are managing the planning, communications, and implementation activities.
The team expects to submit its proposal to the PRC for review next month. If the PRC approves the proposal, the Network Optimization activities could begin early in calendar year 2012.
Administered by the Postal Service’s Strategic Planning department, the DRIVE program management process is based on a well-established methodology used by many corporations to improve the development and execution of major business strategies. The ambitious initiatives include revenue generation, cost reduction, and capability enhancement necessary for the Postal Service’s long-term success.
Click here to learn more about DRIVE.
source: USPS News Link