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USPS: Facility closings won’t affect businesses drastically
Youngstown
The U.S. Postal Service’s decision to cease operations at Youngstown’s processing and distribution facility, as well as consolidate 252 others, will not drastically affect businesses, said David Van Allen, postal service communications programs specialist.
The postal service addressed concerns on proposed changes to mail delivery in a meeting with local businesses considered among the region’s largest mailers.
The changes included new mail-delivery times for first-class mail.
Currently, first-class mail is delivered in one to three days. After Cleveland absorbs the Youngstown facility, it likely will take two to three days for local letters to reach their intended destinations.
Delivery will take longer because of travel time: It is 72 miles from Youngstown to Cleveland.
There will be no changes to priority mail, express mail and standard-mail packages as of now.
Harry Myers, USPS manager of customer service, said the majority of mailers will not be affected.
“We believe the network changes will be imperceptible to 150 million residential customers,” he said.
He added that a small portion of first-class mail could be delivered within a day. Mailers will have to drop off mail at an earlier time, although specific details have not been ironed out.
Van Allen said the changes were necessary because of a 25 percent decrease in mail volume as well as the Postal Accountability Enhancement Act, a law that requires the postal service to pre-fund 75 years’ worth of future retiree health benefits at a cost of $5.5 billion per year to the postal service. Attempts to urge Congress to repeal the act have gone unanswered.
Van Allen said the decision to consolidate Youngstown’s facilities had nothing to do with employees’ performance but with maximizing the postal service’s network.
“This is a national issue, and although I empathize with the emotions, if we continue, we will be $18 billion in debt by 2015,” he said, adding that the goal was to save the postal service.
The proposed changes will cut an estimated $20 billion in expenses per year, and implementation will not begin until after May 15.
In Washington, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown met with Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to push the USPS to minimize the closure of processing centers and postal offices in Ohio.
Under the postal service’s new plan, nine processing centers in Ohio — Akron, Athens, Canton, Chillicothe, Dayton, Ironton, Steubenville, Toledo and Youngstown — are slated for closure.
In Pennsylvania, the processing center in New Castle also will close.