Thu
May 17 2012
03:11 pm
Post Office to shed 28,000 jobs, close 229 facilities
By: R. Neal

The U.S. Postal Service announced today they are closing up to 229 facilities and reducing their workforce by 28,000 employees. The first phase of 140 consolidations is underway and will be completed by February 2013. Another 89 facilities will be affected "unless circumstances change." They are also scaling back overnight delivery of first-class mail.

Here's the announcement...

List of first 140 facilities...

(The three Tennessee facilities on the list are in Clinton, Jackson and Memphis.)

Topics:
Brian A.'s picture

Why does it have N/A by

Submitted by Brian A. on Thu, 2012/05/17 - 3:28pm.

Why does it have N/A by Clinton? Where else would it consolidate other than Knoxville?

gonzone's picture

And the GOP successfully

Submitted by gonzone on Thu, 2012/05/17 - 3:50pm.

And the GOP successfully bombs another government agency. I hope the good people working in the Clinton facility take note of who to blame for losing their jobs.

Just imagine if ANY private corporation had the same requirements put on them as what was placed on the Post Office? Bain Capital would never be able to plunder another company's pension fund!!

Darn evil government employees! Be gone! /s

Big Al's picture

Well-

Submitted by Big Al (not verified) on Thu, 2012/05/17 - 4:21pm.

I hate to see anyone lose their job but we can't protect obsolescence. Surely most folk would agree that daily mail delivery is not the necessity that it once was when most of the existing post office infrastructure was created. Fed-Ex carved out a niche as did UPS, then e-mail took its piece of the pie but then came the endless proliferation of junk-mail. Regardless of political leanings, action needs to be taken.

bizgrrl's picture

Yes, other services have

Submitted by bizgrrl on Thu, 2012/05/17 - 4:43pm.

Yes, other services have taken business from the USPS. However, if you visit a location you'll see there are still a lot of customers. They are much cheaper than UPS & Fedex. IMO, there is still a demand for their services. I hate to see them close locations. I'm just glad they didn't close the one in Alcoa.

Min's picture

The USPS is cheaper, more convenient...

Submitted by Min on Thu, 2012/05/17 - 6:35pm.

...and they've never bashed up a package as badly as some of the stuff I've had delivered by UPS. I'd drive a package across the US, before I'd trust it to UPS.

Big Al's picture

Absolutely there is still a

Submitted by Big Al (not verified) on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 7:59am.

Absolutely there is still a demand for their services; it just isn't what it used to be on a per capita basis. As with most businesses, they have peak hours and weak hours. The problem is not really that hard to fix:

a. Raise prices on junk mail (this will however shift job loss from postal employees to others)
b. Consolidate post offices (most folk don't visit a post office more than once per year)
c. Eliminate Saturday delivery
d. Slowly raise prices on 1st class mail (I don't know of anyone else who will come to my home retrieve, an envelope and deliver it 1000's of miles for $0.46 but raising it too quickly could accelerate the market forces that have helped create many of the "postal" problems.
e. Move to a generous 401k.
f. Sell advertising on mail trucks just as KAT does.
g. Diversify the portfolio of services
h. On & on.

bizgrrl's picture

"most folk don't visit a post

Submitted by bizgrrl on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 9:15am.

"most folk don't visit a post office more than once per year"

Do you know this for a fact? Does it even matter? I go to the post office several times a month, but I'm probably not the norm. Do most people go inside convenience stores? They are still everywhere. Do most people go inside bank branches? They are still building more.

I do think $0.46 is a great deal and I'm not really sure I need Saturday delivery.

What if the post office started selling candy and lottery tickets? :)

Big Al's picture

Well-

Submitted by Big Al (not verified) on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 9:42am.

I brushed with too broad of a stroke as my sampling size was only 21 at a Thanksgiving discussion. The difference with the convenience store comparison is that they make money or they go away.

I typically don't like the mantra of "running government like a business" because necessary infrastructure more often than not wouldn't "cash-flow" and I do believe that the post office is part of our necessary infrastructure but we must realize that its importance in a speed of light, digital world continues to diminish.

Some may have had a negative experience with UPS or Fed-Ex but there's a reason they have the business with most online retailers: they deliver a value proposition that the USPS does not. Too many business folk have been burned by the postal service for parcels. If this was not the case, "when it absolutely, positively has to be there" would have been a marketing flop.

R. Neal's picture

It should also be noted that

Submitted by R. Neal on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 10:14am.

It should also be noted that UPS and FedEX are heavily subsidized by government. Interstates, airports, air traffic control, the internet, etc. Without government infrastructure they couldn't exist but none of that shows on their balance sheet.

Big Al's picture

Well-

Submitted by Big Al (not verified) on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 11:17am.

Yes, but those are not unique to UPS or FedEx in that USPS uses the same.

Min's picture

I go at least twice a month.

Submitted by Min on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 10:54am.

And it can be more, depending on when I send packages.

ATSF616's picture

The problem is not

Submitted by ATSF616 on Thu, 2012/05/17 - 9:22pm.

The problem is not "obsolescence." The problem is the so-called Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act of 2006, passed on a voice vote by a lame-duck Republican Congress and signed into law by Republican alleged-President Dubya. Among other onerous and questionable requirements, PAEA mandated prefunding of 75 years' worth of future retiree health benefits within a 10-year window, which is bleeding the agency of $5.5 billion of cash flow each year.

Yes, technology has eroded first-class volume, but so did the catastrophic economy of 2008-2011. USPS management's proposed Draconian dismantling of the processing and retail structure will only accelerate diversion of first-class mail to other technologies and trigger a self-induced death spiral.

gonzone's picture

Exactly so!

Submitted by gonzone on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 10:10am.

Exactly so!

michael kaplan's picture

I hope the good people

Submitted by michael kaplan on Thu, 2012/05/17 - 4:59pm.

I hope the good people working in the Clinton facility take note of who to blame for losing their jobs

Obama, obviously ...

bizgrrl's picture

:)

Submitted by bizgrrl on Thu, 2012/05/17 - 5:02pm.

:)

michael kaplan's picture

The USPS has IMO been ravaged

Submitted by michael kaplan on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 2:15pm.

The USPS has IMO been ravaged by the outsourcing of its components to FedEx and UPS. When I last sent an international express mail package to Europe via USPS, I filled out a FedEx form. And the surface (sea) option to Europe is no longer available, raising prices on parcels two- or three-fold. This collapse of services has definitely hurt small businesses selling globally. While I don't have any supportive evidence, I'd assume there's been serious lobbying by private corporations (FedEx, UPS, DHL et al) to get a piece of the USPS action ...

fischbobber's picture

Kinda,sorta

Submitted by fischbobber on Fri, 2012/05/18 - 11:36pm.

You have a grasp of the big picture, but it's more detailed and complex than your scenario.

It is fair to say that the post office (and its employees) tend to get screwed in every venture congress forces them in to. It works that way with T.V.A. as well. It's not enough that congress demands they perform in the free market Congress wants to tell them how to do it and hire the incompetents hacks they want to run the show.

Government can work if that is the goal of the people in place who have the option of making that happen.

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