The US Postal Service will delay closures of any post offices or mail processing facilitiesuntil May 15, 2012, following a request by several US senators and to give more time for a postal
reform act to be passed through Congress.USPS is in the process of studying the potential closure of nearly 3,700 mostly-rural postoffices and 252 mail processing facilities and considering the elimination of overnight delivery offirst-class mail with 100,000 jobs being at risk nationwide. It is also considering post-officeconsolidation in rural areas. In September, the company announced it would review its mailprocessing network in a bid to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
The request for a five-month moratorium was initiated by Senator Bernie Sanders and signed by 22senators. Sanders and several other senators yesterday met with the US Postmaster General PatrickDonahoe and the USPS Board of Governors Chairman Thurgood Marshall. At the meeting, the senatorsexpressed concern over the impact of reduced service and the loss of thousands of jobs.
“I am pleased that the Postal Service will impose a moratorium on closing or consolidating postoffices and mail processing facilities. This moratorium will give Congress the breathing room itneeds to enact comprehensive postal reform and protect universal service while ensuring the postalservice will succeed in the 21st century,” Sanders said.
During the interim period, the US postal operator will continue reviewing the facilitiesconcerned including public input meetings. “The Postal Service hopes this period will helpfacilitate the enactment of comprehensive postal legislation. Given the Postal Service’s financialsituation and the loss of mail volume, the Postal Service must continue to take all steps necessaryto reduce costs and increase revenue,” the company said in a statement.
The US postal unions also approved the decision to delay the post office closures. Cliff Guffey,the president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), commented: “This is a victory for theAmerican people and for postal workers. It is a direct result of the protests by postal employees,small business owners and community leaders. But make no mistake: This is a temporary reprieve.Postal executives have made clear that they intend to proceed with studies and plans to closethousands of post offices and more than half of the nation’s mail processing centers.”
“APWU members must continue to contact their senators and representatives and urge them to passlegislation to correct the underlying cause of the USPS financial difficulties. Several bills arepending in the House and Senate, he noted. “Some would go a long way toward returning the PostalService to stability and growth, and others would lead to disaster.”
John Hegarty, the president of National Postal Mailhandlers Union (NPMHU), also praised theefforts by Senator Sanders and his colleagues, saying that “this moratorium might allow the keyplayers in the Congress the time to step back for a moment, to reassess the various proposals thathave been bandied about, and to possibly fashion a legislative solution that will obviate the needfor full-scale facility closures, and the resulting disruption to USPS workers and the mailingpublic.”
At the beginning of this year, USPS initially announced the post office closures would beimplemented by the end of 2011 in an attempt to stem its huge losses.
