Post office considering closing up to 1,000 branches

sequoias

sequoias

Active Member
Premium Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
22,242
Reaction score
19
Post office considers closing up to 1,000 branches | KOMO News - Seattle, Washington | National & World News

WASHINGTON (AP) - The neighborhood post office is facing major changes as postal officials consider closings or consolidating services at hundreds of locations across the United States, including four in the Puget Sound area.

The Postal Service has been struggling with a sharp decline in mail volume as people and businesses switch to e-mail both for personal contact and bill paying. The agency is facing a nearly $7 billion potential loss this fiscal year despite a 2-cent increase in the price of stamps in May, cuts in staff and removal of collection boxes.

Post officials sent a list of nearly 700 potential candidates for closing or consolidation to the independent Postal Regulatory Commission for review.

Included on the list is the Federal Station in Seattle, The Midway office in Kent, The Martin Luther King. Jr. and South Tacoma offices in Tacoma, as well as an office in Spokane and Yakima.

More may be added, but the current list of candidates can be viewed at www.prc.gov

Some of the offices could be closed while others could have some of their functions consolidated with other offices. For example, in some cases preparing mail for delivery may be shifted from Office A to nearby Office B, but the first office might still offer such services as selling stamps and mailing parcels and letters. In other cases one of the offices might be closed.

Postal Vice President Jordan Small told a congressional subcommittee that local managers will study activities of approximately 3,200 stations and branches across the country and consider factors such as customer access, service standards, cost savings, impact on employees, environmental impact, real estate values and long-term Postal Service needs.

No changes are expected before the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30. There are 32,741 post offices.

"We anticipate that out of these 3,200 stations and branches, under 1,000 offices could be considered as viable candidates to study further," Small said.

In addition to the switch of business to the Internet, the recession has hurt the post office by reducing advertising mail. Last year's high gas prices also siphoned millions of dollars from its coffers.

Just last week the Government Accountability Office added the Postal Service to its list of troubled agencies, saying serious and significant structural financial challenges face the agency.

"Every major postal policy, from employee pay, to days of delivery, to the closing of postal facilities must be on the table. Without major change, the day will soon come when the Postal Service will be unable to pay its bills," GAO said.

Congress is considering a bill to change the way the post office funds its retiree health benefits over the next two years that could save it $2 billion annually.

The post office also filed a petition with the independent Postal Regulatory Commission indicating that managers are looking at closing many post offices to save money.

In addition, Postmaster General John Potter has asked Congress for permission to reduce mail deliveries from six days a week to five.

Last year, mail volume fell by 9.5 billion pieces to a total of 203 billion pieces. It is expected to fall by 28 billion pieces this year to a total of 175 billion pieces.
 
Times sure are a'changin'!....We might even be getting our mail via horseback! Seriously, tho', I've friends who work at the post office, some many years....still holding their breaths...never knowing when they're gonna get the envelope....laid off.
 
Yea, I read about it this mornin'. How unfortunate for those people who worked for Post Office. It's the advanced technology that changed times and save money. Paperless.

I wouldn't be surprised that the telephones will be next. People are buyin' their own cell phones via text. Pagers and cell phones that people will take with them. I noticed people like things that they could take with them. Easy life and fast pace. I've noticed myself and my fiance don't use our telephone at home. We use our cell phones aloooot, because it has everythin' in it ( emails, text and such ). Sometimes, it can hurt to some businesses like Walmart hurt Kmart and some stores.

Are we in " Futuristic " Age ? LOL
 
Maria said:
Yea, I read about it this mornin'. How unfortunate for those people who worked for Post Office. It's the advanced technology that changed times and save money. Paperless.

I wouldn't be surprised that the telephones will be next. People are buyin' their own cell phones via text. Pagers and cell phones that people will take with them. I noticed people like things that they could take with them. Easy life and fast pace. I've noticed myself and my fiance don't use our telephone at home. We use our cell phones aloooot, because it has everythin' in it ( emails, text and such ). Sometimes, it can hurt to some businesses like Walmart hurt Kmart and some stores.

Are we in " Futuristic " Age ? LOL
Click to expand...

You means payphone, yup, many telephone companies has rid of payphone because many Americans have cell phone now.
 
I guess increase on stamp doesn't even help their business. Good grief!
 
its totally unbelievable!!

Post office looks at changing hundreds of offices
Post office looks at changing hundreds of offices - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – The local post office long has been the center of many American communities, but with people turning increasingly to the Internet to send messages and pay bills, financial losses are forcing the Postal Service to consider consolidating or closing hundreds of local facilities.

The post office is facing a $7 billion loss this year despite a 2-cent rate increase. The agency has shed 150,000 workers since 2000, removed hundreds of mail collection boxes and taken other steps to save money.

Now the agency has sent a list of nearly 700 potential candidates for closing or consolidation to the independent Postal Regulatory Commission for review, and officials say more may be added.

Some of the offices could be closed while others might have some of their functions consolidated with other offices. For example, in some cases preparing mail for delivery may be shifted from Office A to nearby Office B, but the first office still might offer services such as selling stamps and mailing parcels and letters. In other cases one of the offices might be closed.

Postal Vice President Jordan Small told a congressional subcommittee that local managers will study activities of approximately 3,200 stations and branches across the country, considering factors such as customer access, service standards, cost savings, impact on employees, environmental impact, real estate values and long-term Postal Service needs.

No changes are expected before the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.

There are 32,741 post offices across the country.

"We anticipate that out of these 3,200 stations and branches (being reviewed), under 1,000 offices could be considered as viable candidates to study further" for closing, Small said.

In addition to the switch of business to the Internet, the recession has hurt the post office by reducing advertising mail. Last year's high gas prices also siphoned millions of dollars from its coffers.

Just last week the Government Accountability Office added the Postal Service to its list of troubled agencies, saying there are serious and significant structural financial challenges currently facing the agency.

"Every major postal policy, from employee pay, to days of delivery, to the closing of postal facilities must be on the table. Without major change, the day will soon come when the Postal Service will be unable to pay its bills," the GAO said.

Congress is considering a bill to change the way the post office funds its retiree health benefits over the next two years that could save $2 billion annually.

In addition, Postmaster General John Potter has asked Congress for permission to reduce mail deliveries from six days a week to five.

Last year, mail volume fell by 9.5 billion pieces to a total of 203 billion pieces. It is expected to fall by 28 billion pieces this year to a total of 175 billion pieces.

At the same time population growth and new business mean the post office has to serve 1.2 million new addresses every year.

While Congress votes money for free mail delivery for the blind and to offer reduced rates to charities, the post office does not receive taxpayer funds for its operations.
Click to expand...
 
well if people want to keep in touch with a friend or family member, ther just email or use a site like facebook. then take into account most of the younger generation would rather chat on a phone than to write a letter. that must really cut back on the flow of letters through the PO....



(just stating the obvious)
 
I think Post Offices have almost outlived their usefulness. Everyone uses email and networking sites to keep in touch. Everybody is paying their bills online or over the phone.

I find it hilarious that they keep jacking up the prices on stamps. Usually when you are having trouble selling something you want to LOWER your prices. Making stamps more expensive just make me not want to use snail mail period.

I would think they could cut costs by not delivering mail on Saturdays rather than closing down several Post Offices. I don't think very many people are going to miss having thier Saturday mail.
 
Sign of the times......good reality check....
 
I am a mail clerk at a college. The PO is awful. Late delivery, less service, like if you want delivery confirmation that is usually a joke. Most of the time it isnt even scanned. I myself mailed an insured priority package. It was left on the porch while the family was away and never scanned at all.

They lose lots and lots of letters and express and packages or they are misdelivered. I am not kidding when I tell you that we got an express piece in that was over one year old. No joke at all.

The price goes up and the service goes down. The workers make a lot of money. Not me cuz I dont work for them. We used to get the schools delivery no later than 8:30, now we are lucky if it is noon.
I think that is a big problem with why they are losing business. We hear these complaints from many other places too.

They inflate the prices, lower service, lose mail, continue to earn large sums and then are not even helpful on the phone. Most of the time here they rarely answer the phone.

It is not the workers, they are nice. I guess it must be the business itself.

I know this cant be true for every office, but is certainly true here.
 
Nan_Mathews said:
I am a mail clerk at a college. The PO is awful. Late delivery, less service, like if you want delivery confirmation that is usually a joke. Most of the time it isnt even scanned. I myself mailed an insured priority package. It was left on the porch while the family was away and never scanned at all.

They lose lots and lots of letters and express and packages or they are misdelivered. I am not kidding when I tell you that we got an express piece in that was over one year old. No joke at all.

The price goes up and the service goes down. The workers make a lot of money. Not me cuz I dont work for them. We used to get the schools delivery no later than 8:30, now we are lucky if it is noon.
I think that is a big problem with why they are losing business. We hear these complaints from many other places too.

They inflate the prices, lower service, lose mail, continue to earn large sums and then are not even helpful on the phone. Most of the time here they rarely answer the phone.

It is not the workers, they are nice. I guess it must be the business itself.

I know this cant be true for every office, but is certainly true here.
Click to expand...

Another misleading about us.

For one I do not make alot money at PO. They keep cutting my paycheck as my route is getting smaller every year. It is possible they will cut my route and put into other routes. I am not worry about it cuz I can always go back and collect your tax to support me with SSDI. I for one do not care cuz I am so sick of all those complain about us. I for one it is rare for deaf to be a carrier and deal with some people who does not like deaf to deliever their mails. As from what I read, I find it hard to believe. When I took over this job, I did not know there was packages were in parcel lock cuz those customers never bother to open and pick their parcels up so I had my post master to go and change lock so I can use those parcel boxes for my present customers. Those packages were in the parcel box alike for one year so it was not our fault but stupid customers never bother to pick them up. Anwyay postmaster had to write letter to them and let them know about them.

So what I read here, about insurances, umm there is two type of insurance, one is to scan and leave a package if they were not home unless customer wanted it to leave at PO and other require to have a signature which I do it often.

As for PO losing money, yeah it is true. Not because of people pay online cuz it is same as it was 5 years ago, no difference. Only difference it is businesses that are hurting most and effect us mostly. We usually get bulk mails from businesses to deleiver ( now not much junk mails) . I lost biggest customers past year are the one who are buinesses and of course many houses were vacant because of foreclosures. And also dont forgot gas, when I first started work here, I usually filled up for alike 18 bucks and now I fill it up and it costs PO about 28 bucks so that mean I fill it up every two to three days. PO spend billion dollars on gas alone. And people complain 2 cents raised few months ago. So what I pay 44 cents myself too.

Anyway PO belong to US government so it is their problem not us, if they want to stop using PO so be it. US government will no longer run it not so far future. As tousi is right, things have change.
 
Back
Top