US House Panel Update for HR 22
Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009
House panel votes relief for Postal Service
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted Friday to approve HR 22, which would save the U.S. Postal Service $2.3 billion this year in health care costs. The bill allows the Postal Service to pay health care premiums for its current retirees using a trust fund designated for future retirees.
Without the bill, the Postal Service would have to make a $2.3 billion payment in September for its current retirees; postal officials say they cannot pay that bill.
"The Postal Service is facing a financial emergency," said Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., the committee chairman. "HR 22 would allow the Postal Service to live to fight another day."
HR 22 was introduced in January and then spent almost six months before the committee. The bill now heads to the full House for a vote. Passage is almost guaranteed: The bill has 337 co-sponsors.
Consolidation of the 6 USPS District Offices
Sunday, Apr 5, 2009
Postal Service to trim 30 jobs across region
Fast-moving dark boxes at top drop magazines and large envelopes into white boxes, which move along a conveyer belt at the bottom in the postal facility on Corliss Street in Providence.
PROVIDENCE - As part of an effort by the U.S. Postal Service to cut costs across the country, more than 30 jobs will be eliminated in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts this year.
The Southeast New England branch does not include any of the six district offices nationwide that are set to be consolidated under the Postal Service's plan, but along with every other branch in the country, it will be forced to trim 15 percent of its administrative staff. The exact number of positions is still unclear, according to a spokeswoman for the Postal Service.
The cuts are being made in response to the continuing financial crisis, which has deeply affected the Postal Service. The agency was already feeling the pinch as it lost business to the Internet.
The weak economy has further exacerbated the problems. Every time a company closes or cuts back, the Postal Service loses business.
"Circuit City sent out a lot more mail than you or I," said Postal Service spokeswoman Christine Dugas.
The service handled 9 billion fewer pieces of mail in fiscal 2008, which ended Sept. 30, than it did in fiscal 2007. A further decrease is expected in the current fiscal year. The declines so far, said Dugas, are worse than in the Great Depression.
Postmaster General John E. Potter told Congress March 25 that the Postal Service could run out of money by the end of the calendar year. He is seeking permission to reduce delivery to five days a week from six.
"We are facing losses of historic proportions," Potter said, according to the Associated Press.
The current plan to cut costs, which includes an offer of early retirement to 150,000 employees and cutting a total of 3,000 jobs across the country, is expected to save the Postal Service $100 million annually.
It's the latest effort to streamline operations. In the past year, the service, among other measures, has cut 50 million work-hours, suspended construction of all new facilities, adjusted postal routes to reflect diminished volume, frozen salaries of officers and executives, put in place a hiring freeze and sold underutilized buildings.
As of Feb. 28, the Postal Service had 646,000 employees, a 4.4-percent decrease over the previous year.
The six offices that will be closed are in Lake Mary, Fla.; North Reading, Mass.; Manchester, N.H.; Edison, N.J.; Erie, Pa.; and Spokane, Wash. The consolidation will leave the service with 74 district offices nationwide but will not affect mail service. The offices being shut house only administrative functions.
According to Dugas, the early-retirement offer will be made to managers and administrators who are at least 50 years of age with at least 20 years of service. A postal worker would usually be required to be at least 55 years old with 25 years of service to qualify for retirement.
Dugas said the Southeast New England branch will be able to minimize the possibility of laying off staff by eliminating administrative positions that had either been unfilled or staffed on a part-time basis.
"We think we have enough vacant positions to cover everyone," she said.
The trimming process should be complete by the end of September, she said.
"We've been reducing costs greatly, but it's still not enough," Dugas said. "We are looking at every possible way we can to reduce costs but still provide efficient service to our customers."
Interesting USPS Statistics
Tuesday, Mar 31, 2009
Download PDFSIZE AND SCOPE
The U.S. Postal Service® delivers more mail to more addresses in a larger geographical area than any other post in the world. We deliver to more than 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office BoxesTM in every state, city, town and borough in this country, as well as to American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Palau, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Republic of Marshall Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands.
By the Numbers
| 75 billion | Revenue in 2008, in dollars |
| 203 billion | Total mail volume processed in 2008, in pieces |
| 667 million | Average amount of mail processed each day |
| 28 million | Average amount of mail processed each hour |
| 463,000 | Average amount of mail processed each minute |
| 7,700 | Average amount of mail processed each second |
| 46 | Percentage of the world's card and letter mail volume handled by the United States Postal Service |
| 835 million | Number of pieces of international mail processed |
| 2.1 billion | Dollar amount paid every two weeks in salaries and benefits |
| 656,000 | Number of career employees |
| 221,000 | Number of vehicles in our fleet - the largest civilian fleet in the world |
| 1.2 billion | Number of miles driven each year by our letter carriers and professional truck drivers |
| 121 million | Number of gallons of fuel used in 2008 |
| 32,741 | Number of Post OfficesTM nationwide |
| 14 | Percent of the nation's population that moves annually |
| 46 million | Number of address changes processed every year |
| 1.2 million | Number of people who visit usps.com® each day |
| 442 million | Revenue from online stamp and retail sales at usps.com |
| 8.5 million | Number of passport applications accepted in 2008 |
| 597,000 | Average number of Postal Service Money Orders issued daily |
| 510 million | Revenue from nearly 92 million transactions on 2,500 Automated Postal Centers® in 2008 |
| 56,659 | Number of stores and banks that sell postage stamps |
| 1.2 million | Number of new delivery points added to the network in 2008 |
| 0 | Tax dollars received for operating the Postal Service |
MAIL IS BIG BUSINESS
The Postal Service is the core of the trillion dollar mailing industry that employs more than 8 million people.*
In 2008, these classes of mail brought in most of the $75 billion in revenue:
| First-Class Mail | $38.2 billion |
| Advertising Mail | $20.6 billion |
| Shipping Services | $8.4 billion |
| International Mail | $2.4 billion |
| Periodicals | $2.3 billion |
| Package Services | $1.8 billion |
If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500. First-Class Mail, Advertising Mail and Shipping Services would each make the list as individual businesses - ranking 61st, 119th, and 310th respectively.
*The Envelope Manufacturers Association reported in the "2008 Economic Jobs Study for the Mailing Industry" that there are 8.4 million jobs and over $1 trillion in revenue attributed to the mailing industry.
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