The following commentary is by Clint Burleson, President of the Olympia, Washington local of the American Postal Workers Union:

There are plenty of problems with the Postal Service decision to move the cancellation, postmark and sorting of the outgoing mail from Olympia to Tacoma.  But now the Postal Service has admitted that they have possible plans to sort the outgoing Olympia and Tacoma mail in Seattle, which will further increase the problems.  

Moreover, the Postal Service had plans at least a year ago to move all the outgoing mail to Seattle, yet the Postal Service did not reveal this information at the time the Olympia consolidation was announced in November of 2005. The information about the eventual sorting in Seattle was only released by the Postal Service after cross-examination in a Postal Rate Commission (PRC) case addressing the Postal Service consolidation efforts across the country (Docket #N2006-1).  

Under cross-examination from a lawyer with the Office of Consumer Advocate, a government agency of the Postal Rate Commission, a Postal Service witness acknowledged possible consolidations planned last year, but not shared with the public.  The Postal Service provided a list of 139 potential consolidations a few days later on July 25 as part of their response to the cross-examination.  The list included Olympia going to Tacoma and Tacoma going to Seattle.    

The list from last year also included a transfer of the Everett mail to Seattle and of the Yakima and Wenatchee mail to Spokane.  The Postal Service has plans to essentially consolidate and sort all of the outgoing mail in Washington in just two sites, Seattle and Spokane.  Outgoing mail is the mail that local residents give to their carrier, put in collection boxes and mail at Post Offices.  Olympia, Tacoma, and Everett handle the mail for many of the outlying communities in their respective areas.  The outgoing mail currently worked in the Olympia Plant is mail from residents in Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Grays Harbor, and Pacific counties.  

The list of 139 potential consolidations released by the Postal Service is not a complete list of the planned changes.  According to the National Association of Postal Supervisors, the Postal Service has “projected the elimination of as many as 250 mail processing centers by the time the network redesign effort is completed.”  The USPS plan is to have just a few hubs across the country to handle the outgoing mail.  It is possible that many facilities including the Olympia Plant could be closed completely.  The Postal Service has also quietly been closing smaller post offices and removing collection boxes from the streets.

The Postal Service has been very secretive about their plans because of the opposition it fears from citizens who rightfully do not want to see a reduction in mail service to their communities.  The Postal Service put all but 10 consolidations on hold pending the outcome of the Postal Rate Commission case.  By putting consolidations on hold and not identifying their future consolidation plans in detail, the Postal Service benefits by reducing the amount of public exposure and opposition it receives to their plans while the Postal Rate Commission hears the case.  If the Postal Rate Commission allows the Postal Service to delay the mail as part of the consolidation process, the Postal Service will be free to consolidate everywhere, including the places they have previously put on hold or even canceled. 

The Postal Service has plans in place to sort the Olympia and Tacoma mail in Seattle and the Yakima and Wenatchee (and probably Pasco) mail in Spokane.  However, the Postal Service did not disclose that information to the public in the beginning and instead just named the first step, which was the move of the Olympia mail to Tacoma and the Yakima mail to Pasco.  

The Postal Service has repeatedly misled the community about their plans, about the reductions in mail service, and about alleged improvements in efficiency or savings associated with the consolidations.  Despite the Postal Service attempts to act like a business, the Postal Service is still a public institution and must be open, accountable, and acting in the public interest.  The union contends that the secrecy together with the misleading and false information coming from the Postal Service is a sure sign that the consolidations will not benefit the public.   

Although a Postal Service expert witness incorrectly testified that the Olympia consolidation had already been implemented, the move of the cancellation, postmark and sorting of the outgoing mail from Olympia to Tacoma is not scheduled to be completed until the end of September.  The transfer of the Olympia mail to Tacoma should be stopped immediately until the Postal Service can be trusted to provide full and accurate information regarding their plans for the Olympia mail. 

In addition to the reduction in service associated with the consolidation, the move is so inefficient that the plans call for 15 new employees to be hired in Tacoma.  Although the new hires are part of the consolidation plan, the costs of the new employees were not included in the calculations of the costs and benefits.  The alleged savings claimed by the USPS is therefore inaccurate. 

As postal workers, we have plenty of experience in dealing with the Postal Service.  We frequently have to fight Postal Service plans that adversely affect workers and service to the community.  While the Postal Service may be big and powerful, postal workers are often able to make the Postal Service adhere to legal and contractual regulations and be a better public institution by making our case in a persistent fashion and utilizing all the options available to us.  Our national union is the most active organization fighting against the Postal Service’s consolidation plans. 

However, the union cannot win this fight alone.  Residents, businesses, consumer organizations and government representatives should do everything within their power to stop the Postal Service’s consolidation plans and the resulting reduction in mail service to the communities they represent.  Expressing opposition to the consolidation plans by contacting the Postal Rate Commission, the Postal Service, federal representatives and President George Bush would be a good start. 

For more information contact: Clint Burelson, president of the Olympia Local of the American Postal Workers Union at clintburelson@comcast.net or 360-970-2965.  A copy of the list of mail facilities considered for consolidation referred to above can be found at

http://www.prc.gov/docs/51/51193/Ans.Homework.APWU.Tr.3.566.pdf

Action Needed

Individuals, organizations, and small businesses are encouraged to write or contact the Postal Rate Commission and express their opposition to any reduction in mail service.  A sample letter could look like this:

Postal Rate Commission
901 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20268

Subject: Docket N2006-1 – Mail Consolidations

Dear Commissioners,

I am requesting that the Postal Rate Commission issue an advisory opinion against the Postal Service request to consolidate mail facilities and reduce service to the country.  (Additional comments are optional)

Sincerely,

Jane Citizen

Other options to contact PRC are:

Phone: 202-789-6800

FAX: 202-789-6886

Internet: “Contact Us” form at http://www.prc.gov/

For More Information

American Postal Workers Union (the national union website) at http://www.apwu.org/

Postal Mag at http://www.postalmag.com/

Postal Employee Network at http://www.postalemployeenetwork.com/

See especially Docket #N2006-1 at http://www.prc.gov/ for the Postal Rate Commission case on consolidation.

Specific information, including previous press releases providing more details regarding consolidations from the Olympia Local can be found at http://www.postalmag.com/olympia.htm. 

(Editor’s note: contributions from all points of view are welcome on the postalnews blog- contact us at postalnews@gmail.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 8th, 2006 at 5:31 pm and is filed under APWU, plant consolidations, postal, postmarks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.