The U.S. Postal Service announced on Thursday new plans to consolidate or close 223 mail processing plants, putting 35,000 jobs at stake starting in late May or June.
The processing plant consolidations would save $2.1 billion and are a part of the agency’s broader effort to save $20 billion in the next three years. The Postal Service is in debt due to declining first-class mail volumes and a congressional mandate to prefund retirement health care benefits.
The agency was reaching out to impacted employees on Wednesday, officials said. Not all impacted workers will lose their jobs. Many will be offered jobs at other processing plants miles away or even in other states. Some will be urged to retire.
The plant consolidations are the latest in an array of controversial cost-cutting measures under consideration at the Postal Service including: Slashing Saturday service,delaying delivery of some first-class mail, closing post offices and hiking the price of a first-class stamp by a nickel to 50cents.
The Postal Service says that, if nothing is done, it faces $18 billion in losses by 2015.
The Postal Service can’t close anything until May 15, after the moratorium on closures ends. The agency originally agreed to the moratorium to give lawmakers time to pass legislation to save the agency. But so far, those efforts have been slow going.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
