Speaking at a news conference in D.C., Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the postal service is trying to balance access with keeping costs down. The U.S. Postal Service says it may close more than 250 mail processing facilities and could also cut 35,000 jobs.
The USPS plans to review the fate of 252 of its 487 mail-processing facilities in the next three months in hopes of shrinking the number of plants to fewer than 200 by 2013. The changes would result in the elimination of 35,000 mail-processing jobs, part of a broader plan to cut 150,000 positions by 2015.
Feasibility studies of the processing plants are in addition to the possible closure of at least 3,700 post offices nationwide and a push for congressional approval of long-sought reforms.
Lawmakers are considering four competing bills that would generally grant the USPS the flexibility to end Saturday mail deliveries, close post offices based on market conditions and recalculate how much it pays annually into federal retirement, health-care and workers’ compensation funds. Although the USPS is a self-funding entity that doesn’t collect taxpayer money, it is the largest contributor to those accounts.
