‘Congress is Killing the Postal Service’

“Congress is killing the Postal Service,” President Cliff Guffey declared on April 10. “Its failure to act is pushing the Postal Service to the brink of bankruptcy and threatens to destroy the institution,” he said.

“While Saturday mail delivery has dominated recent discussions about the Postal Service, little attention has been paid to other drastic measures the USPS is taking that will significantly delay mail and permanently damage the nation’s mail system,” he remarked after the USPS Board of Governors announced it was backing off plans to end delivery of letters and periodicals on Saturdays.

Since 2012, the USPS has closed or consolidated 114 mail processing facilities, one third of the nation’s mail processing capacity. The Postal Service has also reduced hours at approximately 6,500 post offices and plans to cut hours at 6,500 more.

Reneging on its commitment to lawmakers, communities, customers and postal workers, the agency announced last month that it was accelerating plans to close even more mail processing facilities. The USPS said it will consolidate 71 plants this year that were originally scheduled for possible closure in 2014.

Postpone Consolidations

Guffey called on the Postal Service to postpone any consolidations until Congress acts, and he called on lawmakers to move quickly to prevent the USPS  from implementing the devastating cuts in service the closures would cause.

“These consolidations will eliminate jobs, harm communities, and delay mail delivery everyday — Monday, through Saturday,” Guffey said. “They will drastically curtail local mail sortation and will virtually eliminate overnight delivery. They will drive away customers and weaken the USPS,” he said. To carry out the closures, in July 2012 the USPS lowered service standards, and now as little as 25 percent of first-class mail is delivered overnight, he said.

“And for what?” Guffey asked. The Postal Regulatory Commission estimated that “cost savings may be as low as $46 million annually” and even those savings “may be offset by reduced contribution to the bottom line from volume loss by mailers who no longer believe the level of service provided meets their postal needs.” A study prepared for the USPS indicated that revenue losses could be as high as $5.2 billion.

“We call on members of Congress to oppose USPS plans to dismantle the mail processing network with the same fervor they showed when the Postal Service announced it would eliminate Saturday mail delivery,” Guffey said. “The results of gutting the network will be at least as severe,” he said.

“Congress must act now to pass meaningful postal reform — reform that restores financial stability to the Postal Service without destroying service or harming postal workers,” Guffey said. “We urge lawmakers to address the cause of the Postal Service’s manufactured financial crisis, protect service standards, and preserve the nation’s vital mail processing network,” he said.

The primary cause of the Postal Service’s financial crisis is a 2006 law that requires the USPS to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees, at a cost of approximately $5 billion per year, Guffey noted. The mandate forces the Postal Service to pre-fund a 75-year liability in a 10-year period.

‘We’ve Done Our Part’

The Board of Governors also directed management to seek to reopen contract negotiations with the unions.

“APWU members have already done our part,” Guffey responded, noting that the APWU and USPS identified $3.8 billion in savings during the last round of contract negotiations. “We are working to enforce the contract and capture those savings, many of which can be accomplished by returning subcontracted work to postal employees, who can perform the work cheaper and more efficiently,” he said.

The union president called on APWU members to contact their members of Congress to seek support for real postal reform. He asked them to spread the word to the media, as well as to their families, friends, and neighbors about the urgency of ending the Postal Service’s financial crisis.

Contact Congress Today!

By Email: Click here to e-mail your legislators. 
By Phone: Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to reach your representative and senators.
By Mail: Write to your member of Congress: [Name], U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. Send letters to your senators: [Name], U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510.