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Friday, March 09, 2012

Mail sorting center closures could affect rural areas

The U.S. Postal Service announced last year it would consolidate 250 regional processing centers to save $3 billion a year. When the agency presented its case to the advisory Postal Regulatory Commission in December, it said savings would be $2.1 billion, but Steve Hutkins of Save the Post Office says final studies of 134 plants show the USPS "may not save anything at all." The National Postal Mail Handlers Union released the studies, and despite being heavily redacted, Hutkins says they contain "a lot of numbers on cost savings and eliminated positions." Most plant closures will be in urban areas, but if the savings fall short, there could be more pressure to close rural post offices. (Also, closure of the centers will delay mail, especially that coming from or going to rural areas.)

If you add numbers for the 134 facilities and estimate the savings for all facilities slated for consolidation, total savings would be $874 million, Hutkins says. Subtract the $500 million in lost revenue the USPS anticipates the reduced service standards would cause, and total savings would be $374 million for the entire plan. Hutkins says the studies don't just provide rough estimates; postal management "looked very closely at the operations in each case, the reports are lengthy, and the numbers should be reliable." He says the studies raise more questions than they answer, and that communities are looking closer at them and challenging the USPS decision to consolidate.

The Buffalo News in New York noticed the discrepancies, too, saying the USPS initially said savings from closure of the Buffalo center would be far more than the final study reports. "You have to wonder how were any of these numbers calculated and how much lower will the next study put the numbers?" the paper asks. (Read more)

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