USPS: Eight mail processing centers in Kentucky studied for closure
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Friday, Sept. 16, 2011, 12:15 p.m. — Eight United States Postal Service mail processing centers in Kentucky are among the 252 in the nation that are being studied for closure in a move to reduce costs in the wake of declining mail volume.
The study is part of a postal service plan to save up to $3 billion and reduce processing equipment by as much as 50 percent. The closures could eliminate as many as 35,000 jobs.
In a letter Thursday to union leaders, the postal service list of mail processing centers to be studied included processing centers in Bowling Green, Campbellsville, Elizabethtown, Hazard, Lexington, London, Paducah and Somerset. The feasibility studies will look at consolidating these Kentucky operations with others in the region.
The study will examine the feasibility of combining the Lexington, Elizabethtown and Campton mail centers with the one in Louisville; consolidating the Hazard, London and Somerset centers with one in Knoxville, Tenn.; consolidating the Paducah operation with one in Evansville, Ind.; and shifting operations at the Bowling Green center to existing operations at Nashville and/or Evansville, Ind. The list also includes studying the closure of a postal annex in Louisville.
The number of Kentucky jobs affected by the possible consolidations was not released.
In a press release issued Thursday, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe cited the Postal Service’s excess capacity for mail processing as the reason for the study.
“With the dramatic decline in mail volume and the resulting excess capacity, maintaining a vast national infrastructure is no longer realistic,” Donahoe said. “Since 2006, we have closed 186 facilities, removed more than 1,500 pieces of mail processing equipment, decreased employee complement by more than 110,000 through attrition and reduced costs by $12 billion.”
In the past five years, the number of letters sent by First Class mail has dropped 25 percent overall, with single piece First Class mail – letters bearing postage stamps – seeing decline of 36 percent.
While part of this decline can be attributed to economic conditions, the Postal Service does not anticipate mail volume to return to earlier levels when the economy rebounds.
The Postal Service faces default due largely to the $5.5 billion it owes for future retiree health benefits. The post office is expected to reach its $15 billion borrowing limit by the end of this month.
The post office in the past five years has already eliminated 110,000 postal jobs, consolidated some services and reduced hours before moving forward to shut down around 3,700 post offices nationwide, including the Fairfield Post Office, which will close in November.
Among the changes the Postal Service is considering is the change of its service standards for First Class mail.
First Class mail’s current service standard is delivery within a 1 to 3-day window. With the proposed changes, the new standard for First Class delivery would be 2 to 3 days, meaning that customers would no longer receive mail the day after it was mailed.
The post office is also considering a move from six-day to five-day-a-week service.
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