Carper: ‘Hard to condemn’ USPS consolidation decision

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe announced last year that USPS would consolidate more than 200 mail processing centers around the country in a multi-year process. The Postal Service also rolled out a 2012 plan to shorten the hours at many local post offices.

{mosads}The American Postal Workers Union said this week it was “outraged” by the Postal Service’s decision on the 53 processing centers.

“The Postal Service is on the brink of cutting service in a way that will permanently damage our treasured institution,” Cliff Guffey, the APWU president, said in a statement. “This would be a tragic mistake, and it is unnecessary.”

Key lawmakers have been working for months to try to overhaul how USPS operates, with the agency having lost close to $16 billion in fiscal 2012.

USPS also rolled out a framework for delivering letters five days a week while keeping Saturday delivery of packages, a growing part of the agency’s business. First-class mail volume has been on the decline in recent years, due in large part to the increase in digital communication.

But it remains to be seen whether USPS will go forward with that plan, after Congress approved a government spending measure that mandates six-day delivery at 1983 levels.

Beyond delivery schedules, USPS is pushing for relief from a mandate that the agency prepay for future retirees’ healthcare. The agency defaulted on some $11 billion worth of those payments in 2012, and liberals and unions say the requirement is the biggest impediment to putting USPS on firmer financial footing.