USPS career staffing drops below 600,000
TweetThe US Postal Service ended the calendar year with 599,655 career employees, a drop of 57,118, or 8.7% from the same period last year. Decreases were steepest in mail processing operations (-13.7%), and customer service positions at post offices (-14.5%). Those operations had been the target of early retirement offers earlier in the year. Delivery operations saw much lower attrition, with city delivery staffing down -5.2%, and rurals down -1.7%. Headquarters saw an increase of 138 positions, or +4.9%. That increase, however, was more than offset by a decrease of 327, or -25% for employees at Area offices. Those figures reflect the fact that some former area positions now report directly to HQ, as well as reductions in authorized staffing at the Areas, and the elimination of the New York Metro Area office.
By employee type, the largest reduction came in the clerk craft, down 29,234 employees, or -15.3%. Mailhandlers were down by 5,145, or -9.4%; city carriers -10,597, or -5.1%, supervisors and managers -3,313 or 10.4%; and professional, administrative and technical employees -1,564 or -19.8%.
The numbers reflect actual employees on the rolls (not authorized positions) as of the beginning of pay period 26. They don’t reflect retirements that occurred at the beginning of this month.
January 7th, 2010 07:25
what a way to fight a war, get more chiefs and less warriors. Sit back and watch us lose.
January 7th, 2010 08:52
Here it is in a nutshell. Where I work in CT. they havnt added one craft position, lost 6 to retirement, tranferred 2, BUT added 2 supervisor position and 1 potential 204B. Anyone that says they are getting rid of supervisors is LYING thru their teeth
January 7th, 2010 09:52
Tom, you work in one office. You are probably clueless as to what the staffing needs are. Go deliver your mail in 3 hours and take your three hour lunch behind the bar like you do everyday and quit complaining. It could be worse, you could be working at UPS. They earn their keep there.
January 7th, 2010 11:02
Gary, the article says that we lost chiefs FASTER than the indians. READ, THINK, then speak. It works better that way.
January 7th, 2010 11:49
Tom’s right. I work in CT also, and they are making NEW supervisors while losing craft positions. It may be different where you are, but here in CT, it’s SNAFU as usual. So the rest of you can blow it out your asses.
January 7th, 2010 13:55
Buck,
Do you feel like an idiot yet?
January 7th, 2010 14:20
Why did Potter need 138 more gofers?
January 7th, 2010 14:53
Why more 204-B’s? HALF of all Mgmt will be eligible and more than likely GONE in the next five years. The brain drain wll be enormous, and we have done little to grease the pipeline and bring along people qualified to take our places. I can hear the craft’s derision at my comments (look it up in a dictionary, clerks) but they for the most part don’t have the courage to step up into that gap and lead- they would rather sit in the cheap seats and second-guess.
January 7th, 2010 15:36
That’s over 47,000 craft jobs gone and 4877 white collar jobs, nearly 10 to 1. However, how many of those people at area offices were simply transfered to HQ and so are not really gone?
January 7th, 2010 16:31
Gee Mark, what part of over 3,300 jobs don’t you understand. Let see 138 more at HQ and and 327 less at area. Sounds like less managers too! Quit blaming all the woes of the postal service on management. If we’re not all in this together then the postal service will fail.
January 7th, 2010 20:14
the job that is draining this organization is the job of postmaster!!! numbers are right from the annual report that it put out on the usps website……….. postmasters/installation heads 23,672
postmaster relief and leave replacements… 11,477
a total of 35,000!!!! the report lists that there are only 28,800 managers/supervisors in the organization but more postymasters!! we can all argue that the organization is top heavy and that you think this craft doesnt work and i think this craft doesnt work but lets let loose of the 11,477 relief pms and see how this organization runs? i bet it wouldnt skip a beat. its funny when the postmaster at my large office is on vacation, guess what everything gets done!!!
January 7th, 2010 23:03
To Mgr, the reason more do not and have not gone into management, is because anyone with any real integrity and/or brains knows you have to sell your soul to go into postal management. You are not in control, you are merely a puppet to be micromanaged by the multiple layers of control freaks above you. You are told what to say, and how to think, any possible creative ideas you have will be squelched. The “brain drain” you brought up will be minimal…however, many of the managers ready to retire at least were brought up working in the craft, so at least had a postal background, while the newer managers have, for the most part, no or minimal postal experience, being brought up into management either early in their postal career, or in some cases, hired off the street by their “buddies”.
January 8th, 2010 14:56
Tom, you go and try to deliver MY route in 3 hrs., if u can i’ll kiss ur ass, AND buy u drinks for those 3 hrs at bar off ur choice
January 8th, 2010 16:25
Mark, Tom must have thought you were a rual carrier.
January 12th, 2010 13:56
We are all bound by different contracts managers, craft, etc. The name calling and finger pointing is seriously childish. I’ll bet FedEx and our other competitors love to read these comments, self destructive. Let’s wake up and go to work, all crafts and managers. All organizations have reduced compliment it’s more the economy than anything. If we don’t respond we will no doubt sink deeper. The real challenge is grasping the opportunity that’s in front of us, new business, scanning capabilities, etc. Lastly, have some faith in the leadership or join it, anything less is empty criticism.