USA Postal Service may prefer 5 day delivery work

United States Postal Service prepares

for five-day delivery work

The U.S. Postal Service is drafting a plan for switching to five-day mail delivery — and for overcoming strong opposition to the idea from labor unions and Congress. An internal study group, composed of managers from across the Postal Service, has been working privately for three months to figure out the complicated logistical changes involved in switching to five-day mail delivery. Those include creating new schedules for the transportation network that moves mail across the country, for example, and major reductions in work hours for carriers and other employees. The Postal Service says it wants a detailed plan ready in case Congress starts seriously discussing the switch to five-day delivery. The study group has already developed a rough framework for how it might work, said Gerry McKiernan, a spokesman for the Postal Service. “Now they’re going to have a series of meeting with unions, management, customer groups,” he said. “[The group] wants input from them … a sense of where they are on this matter. It’s a cooperative process, we hope.” Mailing groups, like the Association for Postal Commerce, have had mixed reactions to the proposal. Most say they will need to study how less-frequent delivery affects their business models. Unions, on the other hand, uniformly oppose five-day delivery; labor leaders have blasted the proposal, saying it would eliminate thousands of jobs and hurt the Postal Service’s already-sagging mail volume. “It’s a shortsighted response,” said Fred Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. “It would do nothing to address the real issues facing the Postal Service.” Unions are also worried that a competitor in the private sector — like FedEx or UPS — might steal the Postal Service’s business by offering six-day delivery.
“History will record this act as the first step in the dismantling of the United States mail system,” said William Burrus, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, which represents more than 330,000 postal employees. “Any service organization which reduces service invites its own demise.” Despite opposition from labor groups, the five-day proposal is popular with the American public. A Gallup poll released on June 26 found 66 percent of Americans in favor of five-day delivery “as a way to help the Postal Service solve its financial problems.”
Five-day delivery was by far the most popular cost-cutting measure; few Americans supported other steps, like raising stamp prices (38 percent in favor), firing Postal Service employees (17 percent), and closing local post offices (11 percent). Congressional opinion is harder to gauge. The five-day proposal faced almost universal opposition on Capitol Hill when it was introduced in January. But at a hearing last month of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee —which has jurisdiction over the Postal Service — some legislators appeared open to the idea. “I think there’s been a change in attitudes on the Hill,” McKiernan said.
But Rolando, the NALC president, predicted the idea wouldn’t go far in Congress.
“I don’t believe Congress is convinced this is the way to go either,” he said. “It’s not going to serve anyone in their constituencies.” Estimates vary on how much money could be saved by a switch to five-day delivery, ranging from $1.5 billion to $3.5 billion per year. Regardless, it would be a substantial cost-cutting measure for an agency struggling to close a $6 billion budget deficit. Managers are on track to trim 100 million work hours this year, on top of the 50 million they cut last year. The Postal Service is also pushing for a change in the way it funds its retiree health benefits that could yield $2.3 billion in savings. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved that change late last week.

Source-Federal Times