Postal Service Trims List of Targeted Stations

The USPS announced Nov. 20 that it has reduced the list of stations and branches under consideration for closure to 241 [list] (from 371 in early October) but warned that the new list does not represent a final decision on consolidation, adding that, “To date, no facility-specific final decisions have been made.”

“The APWU will continue to fight the Postal Service’s attempt to reduce service to our customers,” said APWU President William Burrus. “Cutting service is counter-productive and will harm the USPS in the long-run.

“In every neighborhood where the Postal Service’s plans have been made public, our members have found significant opposition. The record shows that the plan preys upon poor communities, the handicapped and the elderly. 

“The American people want a vibrant Postal Service, and they should have one,” Burrus said.

The USPS announcement updates a review process that began in May; more than 3,200 were initially under consideration for closure.

USPS Responds to PRC Info Requests

Earlier in the week, the Postal Service released information about why it had reduced the list of offices facing closure by more than half in the period between Sept. 2 and Oct. 9. The September list showed 760 possible closures; five weeks later, 389 branches and stations had been deleted from the list, leaving 371.

In a Nov. 17 response to requests by the Postal Regulatory Commission about the Station and Branch Optimization and Consolidation Initiative, USPS officials provided explanations of why facilities had been removed from the list provided to the commission on Sept. 2.

In its written response, the Postal Service attached a spreadsheet of the facilities that are no longer among those that are being studied, along with a small variety of cryptic responses:

• “Located in major Financial/Business/Government District [of] High Revenue and/or Growth.” 
• “Gaining/Neighboring offices cannot absorb workload.” 
• “No Retail Presence in Close Proximity.” 
• “Facility incorrectly added to the list” 
• “High Carrier Transportation/Labor Costs

Also listed as reasons, often together, were

• “Socio-Economic Concerns,” 
• “Transportation Concerns,” 
• “Significant Community Concerns.”

APWU officers said the USPS response provides valuable information. “It will help our members and the residents of affected communities understand why some offices were taken off the list,” said Clerk Craft Assistant Director Mike Morris. “The material may be useful if management revisits the idea closing these same stations in the future, and it may be instructive for stations that remain under consideration.”

Solicitation of Public Input

Noting that a USPS witness testified on Sept. 30 that the solicitation of public input indicates that a discontinuance study is underway, the PRC had asked the Postal Service for the number of facilities where the USPS had sought such input for the 371 facilities that remained on the list.

The Postal Service response was that as of Nov. 16, “the public input process has been initiated for 118 candidate stations or branches.” However, management noted that “study proposals are not considered complete until they have been vetted” at USPS headquarters and submitted to the Vice President of Delivery and Post Office Operations for a decision.

Of the 13 proposals that have been submitted from the field to headquarters, none had been completed.

The USPS response includes sample data from three “randomly selected” stations that remain under consideration for closure.