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Local center given brief reprieve
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Brown
By Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
The U.S. Postal Service’s Youngstown processing and distribution center on Tuesday was given a brief reprieve from the chopping block.
USPS has agreed to delay the closing of 252 mail processing centers and 3,700 local post offices until mid-May.
The cash-strapped agency, which is forecast to lose a record $14.1 billion next year, announced last week it was moving forward on cutbacks.
It had planned to begin closing processing centers as early as March or April — including the Youngstown facility, which employs about 500 — and shutter some post offices early next year.
The post office, in a statement, said it will delay its decision after receiving a letter from 18 U.S. Senators, including U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Avon, asking for a six-month moratorium on any postal closings.
“This moratorium is a win for Ohio consumers, Ohio business and Ohio workers,” Brown said. “Though the Postal Service faces serious challenges, this will provide time to reach a solution that will strengthen the USPS, instead of crippling it.
“It is vital that all Ohio residents and businesses receive the same level of service and access to their mail.”
The Youngstown facility, like all similar facilities in Ohio except for Columbus and Cleveland, was set to close as early as March, a local union official told The Vindicator last week.
The 500 employees who work at the Youngstown plant contribute about $500,000 in city income taxes annually.
The postal service has struggled with declining mail delivery, though it still delivers more than 167 billion pieces of mail annually.
That is a 20 percent decline from 2006, when USPS delivered a record 213 billion pieces.
The chief reason for the deficits, some have argued, is the government-mandated retiree health-care benefit prefunding program.
Every year the postal service starts with a deficit of $5.5 billion, as stipulated in the 2006 Postal Accountability Enhancement Act, which requires USPS to fund retiree health-care benefits 75 years in advance.
That is in addition to $7 billion in expenditures for current benefits.
This year’s $5.5 billion payment, originally due this fall, faces a Dec. 18 deadline.
Legislators have drafted a pair of bills aimed to keep the postal service solvent, but neither has gained significant traction.
In the interim, the postal service has finalized a public meeting to discuss consolidating Youngstown mail facilities with a similar plant in Pittsburgh.
The meeting will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 28 at the Boardman Performing Arts Center, 7777 Glenwood Ave., Boardman.
The postal service began a study Sept. 15 to determine if it could be more efficient by consolidating Youngstown’s operations with a nearby facility.
Initial study results support the consolidation, though the postal service says no final decision on the facility has been made.
Documents obtained by The Vindicator detail plans to shift some employees to other postal locations when the Youngstown plant closes.
A summary of the proposal and presentation materials will be made available on www.usps.com one week before the meeting date.
Anyone who wishes to submit comments in writing can send them to: Manager of Consumer and Industry Contact Northern Ohio District 2400 Orange Avenue Room 25 Cleveland, OH 44101-9631. Public comments will be accepted through Jan. 12.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.