Starting yesterday, information about closures of Postal Service facilities have leaked out one by one. The Postal Service this morning published the full list of facilities that will be impacted. The Postal Service states that “264 processing facilities were studied, 6 are on hold for further internal study, 35 will remain open for now and 223 will be consolidated — all or in part. Looking at the list of facilities that will not be consolidated fully, it is clear that with very few exceptions the evaluation process and all of the public hearings did not change the likelihood that a facility would be consolidated. It would appear that the effort that local, sate and federal officials made to convince the Postal Service to keep a facility open, was for nought.
Senator Susan Collins has made a statement suggesting that want the Postal Servide to reconsider its actions. Her statement asking for the Postmaster General to reconsider the Postal Service’s decision, is unlikely to have any more impact than efforts that were made earlier to save the Hampden, Maine plant particularly as it does not provide a real alternative to what the Postal Service plans to do.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Gov. Peter Shumlin (D-Vt.) issued a joint statement today after the U.S. Postal Service announced plans to consolidate mail processing centers. The statement repeated thier objections changes in service standards, closure of processing plants and closrue of rural Post Offices. They suggested that their reform approach could stop the consolidation in its tracks if it passed both houses quickly.
The American Postal Workers Union has asked its members to write their Senators to make changes in S. 1789 to prevent the closings. However, the APWU President Cliff Guffey acknowledges that “”if the Postal Service degrades service standards before postal reform is enacted, stopping massive consolidations will be that much more difficult.”
The problem that the APWU and other opponents of the change in service standards and consolidation of facilities have is that there does not appear to be a legislative mechanism that could either stop the Postal Service, or for that matter force it to delay action until after the Postal Regulatory Commission makes a decision. While Senator Sanders has 27 Senators behind his approach, his proposal does not have sufficient support for speedy passage in the Senate, and its prospects in the house are extremely dim.
A Senator objecting to the Postal Service’s actions could try to hold up legislation on an unrelated matter until the Sentate passes an amendment that would stop the Postal Service, that amendment would have to pass the House as well. That would appear extremely unlikely. As Congresman Dennis Ross’s spokesman stated, “Congressman Ross understands that facilities need to close. He only wants the USPS to apply a uniform criteria.”
Consolidations Were So Extensive that They Would Appear Fair Enough
The Postal Service’s action today would appear to have met Congressman Ross’s requirement. Nearly every plant consolidation under consideration was approved. Facilities that survived consolidation appear to have survived for one of four reasons:
- Geographic distances made consolidation impossible. This appeared to have affected some decisions in the Great Plains and Mountain West.
- The consolidation decision was whether plant A or B would close. An example of this was Bloomington or Champaign Illinois. Also the shift of Volume from Rockford Illinois to Chicago area plants may have influenced consolidation decisions among those plants.
- There was a facility issue that prevented consolidation. Facility issues included not having enough space, dock capacity or road access to handle the increased volume that consolidation would generate. The Postal Service appears to have had the biggest problems with plant issues in the Boston Metropolitan area, Michigan, Long Island, NY, Iowa, and Little Rock, Arkansas. If First Class volume drops sufficiently, some of the annexes that remain open for now may close in the next few years.
- Supporters of a particular facility or set of facilies produced a better consolidation plan. This appears to have happened in Wilmington Delaware, which is being evaluated as to whether it can handle mail now processed in the Easton, MD plant.
As there does not appear to be any favoratism in the decision making process, it is unlikely that Congressman Ross or the Republican leadership would agree to an amendment to any bill made in the Senate that stops the Postal Service. Nor would it appear likely that Republicans in the House would agree to any proposal coming from Senator Sanders.
Political Blowback from Consolidations will Be Minimal
In conclusion, it appears that the Postal Service will avooid any significant political blowback from its actions. It can expect that any oversight hearings in the next two years will discuss the impact on service and employees in great detail. The Postal Service may see itself subject to new studies by the Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office regarding service quality tand the impact on employees that Senators and Representatives that object to the changes will demand. The political ease at which the Postal Service handles the change in First Class Service Standaards and closes facilities will make it easier for it to take other actions that don’t require Congressional approval.
The Postal Service’s actions could also have some ipact on legislation before the House and Senate. Clearly studies on service and the impact on employees will likely be added to whatever passes. H.R. 2309 will need to remove or significantly modify the BRAC provisions that it contains as the consolidations announced today make those sections redundant. to the extent that S.1789 has any provisions related to closing processing facilities, those sections will also have to be removed as the Postal Service’s actions make changes in law relating to facility closings significantly less relevant than what they may have appeared to be when approved by the Homeland Security Committee.
goodby my republican senators and congressmen and women. the democratic party will use this to unseat you all this fall. you all really have no idea how upset the american people have become about this issue do you? not only will we lose the house but we will not take the senate and obama will recieve another term. thank you. how could you be on the wrong side of this issue? everone knows the usps must reduce facilities and post offices but the rural community will either not vote for you or not vote because of the large number of facilities closing in their areas. the elderly and people without internet will be the losers in the short period and our republican party in the long term. thanks again.
It is insane to me that even one American should lose his job in this economy, especially when Congress made the post office pay pensions well into the future as no other company has been required to. Please help FIRE Darrel Issa and HIRE Jerry Tetalman who is running against him this year for the 49th congressional district. JerryforCongress2012.com. He supports the postal workers and is 100% better than Issa in every way you can think about it.
Molly, you are so right. I went online and found Jerry’s websiter and send $$.. Issa has a warchest but if the people stand by Jerry he has a chance.
The Republican Party is responsible for the USPS being in this position in the first place with their passage of PAEA of 2006! The Republican Party is allowing two men to stop any legislation from saving the USPS (Issa and Ross), those two will be the downfall of your party!! And they could care less about you or I or anyone else, they are worth millions!!
Seriously, Samuel. Nobody will care, nor will they remember come November. There is more to life than if someone’s PD&C closed. With the state of the USPS losing billions, they would rather have these closed than have a bailout.
The USPS DOES NOT NEED A BAILOUT! They are simply asking Congress to change the legislation (PAEA of 2006) that requires them to make 75 years worth of payments to the federalo retirees health benefit plan in ten years or less! The USPS has overpaid by $13 billion and $45-$50 billion. If the USPS didn’t put another dime in this plan, it would still be paid up until 2045! But the Republicans in Congress want privatization and will not budge on giving the USPS some or all of that money back. The USPS RECEIVES NO TAXPAYERS MONIES, and operates on its own revenue.
The caviling about no mechanism to stop office closures and consolidations regardless of public comment is moot. No one wants their _______ closed! ( fill in military base, post office, hospital, etc.). It is necessary to inconvenience people as the network shrinks. This is but the initial round of contraction with more to follow as mail volume continues to decline. The deficit is already 16 trillion plus, so how much in additional taxes are you personally willing to shoulder to be able to stand in a long line with a surly mail clerk conveniently?
Just remember one thing: If these facilities are closed and 35,000 people lose their job, there will be a trickle down effect in the mailing industry, which currently employees over 8 million people! Not to mention the revenue and taxes these losing cities will have to face. Let’s put millions more Americans out of work and unemployed, and see how much good that does for the economy! This does not just affect postal workers, it wil affect everyone! And the only thing that needs to be done is for Congress to allow the USPS out of their requirement to pre-pay into their federal health benefits plan, but the HOUSE REPUBLICANS (Issa R-CA, and Ross R-FLA) are blocking every effort and have come up with their own legislation that will destroy millions of jobs and the postal service. Both are multi-millionaires (the 1%)
Two, at least, real concerns stick out about consolidations: Some cities may still have overnight delivery (those plants / cities selected), while others will not. This has the effect of selecting winners and losers. If one needs overnite delivery, it is currently .45 cents. After consolidation, it will be the premium rate of Express Mail, appx $18.00. Outragious!