Opinions sought on continued consolidation of postal facilities
by 
From NNA
Dear NNA Member,
Problems with newspaper delivery in the mail seem to have broken out all over the nation. When Postmaster General Megan Brennan spoke to National Newspaper Association members at last week’s Leadership Summit, she promised attention to the problems. We take her at her word and are following up.
But meanwhile, the U.S. Postal Service has already lowered the STANDARDS for delivering mail—that is, the number of days the mail is supposed to take. Many NNA members say some mail wasn’t delivered according to the old standards, and they doubt that lowering standards is a good solution.
So, NNA is pursuing many channels to address the problem. We are talking to members of Congress about delaying the planned closing of 82 more mail processing plants. We are working with USPS to find better tracking of Periodicals Mail from entry to delivery. We are urging USPS to set up transfer hubs in the place of the older plants that closed so 5-digit containers of mail need not travel hundreds of miles out of their way.
We are troubleshooting issues as we find them. And we continue to encourage newspapers to get their long-distance mail out of sacks and into flats tubs (trays) whenever possible. Follow Max Heath’s column in Pub Aux for more details.
Meanwhile, part of our challenge is to persuade all the stakeholders in this conversation that there is a problem. Below you will find one of those. The Office of the Inspector General of the Postal Service is asking whether we care about the lowering of the promised delivery standards.
If you care about this issue and have had problems retaining your subscribers because of poor mail delivery, consider responding to the Inspector General’s questions. Just click on the link below and provide your comment. Please note that your comments will be public.
Please keep us posted also. We want to know about the concerns.
Tonda Rush and Max Heath
NNA Postal Committee
trush@americanpressworks.com
From the USPS Office of the Inspector General:
Network Consolidation: It Takes Two … Phases
Reshaping a postal network doesn’t happen overnight. Especially one built to handle mainly letters and flats and not the tremendous anticipated growth in parcels. The Postal Service is attempting to tackle realignment in two phases, playing out over 4 years.
Phase one was completed in 2013 and resulted in 141 consolidations for an expected cost savings of about $865 million. To achieve full cost savings, however, the Postal Service also had to reduce service standards for First-Class Mail. Phase two, which started in January and will run through late summer, calls for consolidating 82 mail processing facilities and eliminating most overnight delivery of First-Class Mail. It will also change service standards for Periodicals Mail. All other products will stay the same.
The Postal Service launched its overall consolidation plan in 2012 to adjust the size of the network and workforce to the reduced demand. The plan calls for fewer processing facilities and for machinery to operate longer and more efficiently. Total mail volume has declined 27 percent since its peak in 2006, and single-piece First-Class Mail – primarily correspondence, bill payments, and greeting cards – has been hit even harder. It has declined by more than half in the past decade.
Speaking at the February Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee meeting, postal officials said they are confident consumers will not notice the service standard changes. Surveys suggest most people don’t know what the service standards are, but they do care when their mail arrives in their mailbox. So the Postal Service is working to ensure consumers receive their mail at the same time each day. They also reminded people that consolidation doesn’t necessarily mean closing. Some facilities could be repurposed for other services.
Business mailers have generally supported efforts to eliminate excess capacity and reduce costs, with the exception of those whose business model depends on overnight service. But mailers also worry that some costs could be shifted to them. Unions have opposed the consolidation plan, arguing it downgrades service and delays mail at a time when the Postal Service should be stepping up its efforts to compete with digital communications. As for consumers, the Postal Service may be right that they won’t really care – unless they notice a change in delivery performance. It’s also worth noting that service standards are not changing for Priority Mail or Package Services, so the Postal Service should be able to satisfy customers’ growing demand for packages.