Mailing/Fulfillment - Postal Trends

The controversial proposed labor contract between the U.S. Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union includes an unusual bonus for the world’s largest postal union: a USPS-funded incentive of up to $7,000 annually for thousands of “non-career” employees to join APWU.

The incentive would come in the form of a health-insurance benefit for “postal support employees”—the new name for casual and temporary workers. After one year on the job, they could sign up for employer-sponsored health insurance, with USPS paying 75% of the premium if they choose the “APWU Consumer Driven Health Plan.” (See pages 173-174 of

Here’s one way labor unions are hindering staff reductions at the U.S. Postal Service—telling their members the truth about the challenges of retiring from the USPS. Consider this statement from a recent article for members of the National Association of Letter Carriers:

“The Office of Personnel Management continues to struggle with timely completion of new retirees’ annuities,” writes Ernest Kirkland, NALC Director of Retired Members. “Again, each member who is considering retirement should try to have a five-month reserve of his or her anticipated retirement income available prior to retiring. Saving 440 hours of annual leave for payment

Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican Congressional leader who has been boldly advocating a downsizing of the Postal Service, suddenly doesn’t sound so brave. At a recent Congressional hearing, according to postal commentator Eddie Mayhew in his newsletter for publishers, Issa said there were probably post offices in every district that could be closed, but that he hopes “there isn’t one or three in mine.” Is this really the same man who just four months ago told The Washington Post, “There are too many postal workers, too many distribution centers, too many post offices and a reluctance to make those changes?”

Recent widespread press reports and public outcry about supposed plans to close 3,000 post offices were a misunderstanding, U.S. Postal Service officials said today. The trouble started when USPS gave the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) a list of about 3,200 stations and branches that would be part of a study of which facilities to discontinue, the Postal Service said in a PRC filing today.

Postal officials provided the PRC today a list of 356 postal facilities where service has been suspended. But it asked the PRC to keep the list of post offices, stations, and branches secret for now

Many Postal Service employees report working longer hours recently, and the statistics back them up. Overtime hours have increased more than 11 percent this fiscal year vs. the same period last year even though the workforce is smaller. Complaints about letter carriers out delivering mail until 8 p.m. may not be isolated cases. Payroll statistics the U.S. Postal Service released yesterday indicate that overtime hours per full-time city delivery carrier have increased more than 20 percent over last year.

Part-time city carriers are also keeping busy, working nearly one hour of overtime for every six of straight time

February may be a short month, but it’s already a record breaker for one type of downsizing at the U.S. Postal Service. USPS has launched Area Mail Processing studies this month that could lead to the closing or significant downsizing of 20 processing and distribution centers. The previous record month for such new AMP studies was September 2010, with 13.

The Postal Service has also approved six AMP consolidations this month, deciding to move work from facilities in Daytona Beach, FL; Lufkin, TX; Muncie, IN; Wichita Falls, TX; and Zanesville, OH to those in nearby cities.

The U.S. Postal Service should invest to position itself as a “de facto national service provider” at the heart of digital communications in the United States, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The first in a series of reports from the OIG’s Risk Analysis Research Center on how the USPS should be engaging with an increasingly digital U.S. population, the study says the USPS actually has a major advantage over private corporations in pursuing online opportunities.

While the OIG held back from setting out a digital communications strategy for the USPS

President Obama is set to present a special Valentine’s Day gift to the U.S. Postal Service this year, in the form of assistance in his latest budget. The struggling USPS needs to address financial problems that saw it posting an $8.5 billion loss last year, with commentators predicting a $6.5 billion loss this year—and possible insolvency.

But this morning, the chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission revealed that she had been told by White House officials that some assistance will come in the President’s Budget for the 2012 fiscal year, which is due to be announced later this month.

In the past seven days, the U.S. Postal Service has announced it is considering the closing or downsizing of seven distribution centers as it steps up efforts to shrink its mail-processing network. The latest announcements mean that more than 15 percent of the country's approximately 260 processing and distribution centers are the subject of Area Mail Processing studies, which can lead to work being shifted to facilities in other cities. While the media pay attention to the recent announcement that 2,000 small post offices might close, the less publicized AMPS process could be equally significant for the USPS’s workforce, cost

An article published in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week reported that 2,000 post offices may close, but a USPS spokesman said the situation is not that dire. “The Wall Street Journal didn’t get their vocabulary right,” said Joseph Breckenridge of the USPS. “What they should have said was 2,000 stations and branches.”

He said the difference in a post office and a branch or station is size and retail capability.

Breckenridge said some branches and stations in Alabama would instead undergo Delivery Unit Optimization, a process that will consolidate back room operations and save money.