The Virginian-Pilot
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Don't you love the euphemisms that employers substitute for the word "layoffs"?
Instead of saying, "We're firing you and ending your livelihood," they "downsize," "right-size" or "maximize efficiencies."
They all mean the same thing: Employees are screwed.
I thought I'd heard every bit of obfuscation out there. But a new one surfaced this week involving the U.S. Postal Service's attempts to slash huge deficits.
Jacob Cheeks, manager of the Richmond postal district, spoke at a local hearing about a proposal to close the Norfolk Processing and Distribution Center, on Church Street. The work would be transferred to a newer - but problem-plagued - site in Sandston, near Richmond.
"A consolidation would allow us to reduce the costs of having excess capacity," Cheeks said. "The capacity is the equipment and transportation required to process and distribute mail."
People, too, are "excess"?
Cheeks should have said: "We're so desperate for savings, we'll fire 260 people in Norfolk!
"At the same time, service will be lousier in Hampton Roads, because mail originating in and addressed to the region would go to Richmond first.
"By the way, a government audit released this year said the Sandston facility was the worst among 40-plus distribution centers."
Now, I understand the fiscal vise crushing USPS.
The agency does not receive taxpayer money. It reported a $5.1 billion loss for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Package delivery companies and the use of email have cut into postal service revenues. "Snail mail" volume is down more than 20 percent from five years ago.
The agency also grapples with an inexplicable 2006 law that forces it to set aside $5.5 billion annually for 10 years, to pre-fund employees' retirement and health care benefits for the next 75 years. No other federal agency faces that corrosive mandate.
Curiously, the $5.5 billion is about the same as last year's losses.
The postmaster general's prescription, however, is dubious and drastic.
Postal chief Patrick R. Donahoe has floated a plan to close as many as 3,700 of the 32,000 post offices; cut the number of sorting facilities from 500 to 200; and ax the workforce by 220,000 people - including 120,000 through layoffs. Unions are incensed, because they have a no-layoff clause in their contracts.
Aside from worsening unemployment, the plan could threaten mail delivery in some communities.
It seems inevitable - and smart - that the agency will cut delivery from six days a week to five. That would save $3 billion annually.
Michele Martel, a Richmond-based spokeswoman for the agency, said the proposal on Norfolk's processing center is part of a feasibility study. "It's one of over 200 that are being studied across the country," she said by email. She emphasized that no decision has been made. Closure could save $20.2 million annually.
The only way to save that much money "is to lay people off," Douglas G. Grimm, a steward for the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, Local 305, told me. "They're not coming out and telling us the whole truth."
Plus, shifting the work from the Norfolk plant doesn't make sense. It opened in 1982, is 240,000 square feet and processes 7 million pieces in a 24-hour period.
Sandston is newer (2009) and larger (nearly 716,000 square feet) and processes 11 million pieces in a 24-hour period.
It could be a case where bigger isn't better. A Richmond TV station has aired reports about problems at Sandston, including carriers delivering mail late at night to local residents and items being held in the plant for several weeks.
Martel, the postal spokeswoman, conceded that Norfolk is "a high-performing plant," and the fact it's being studied "in no way reflects upon the success of the operation or its extremely proud and hard-working staff."
So why make a bad situation worse?
Keep the Norfolk plant open.
Then figure out a way, over several years, to trim staff and offices "humanely."
Oops - there goes another euphemism.
Roger Chesley, (757) 446-2329, roger.chesley@pilotonline.com, pilotonline.com/chesley
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Fairness to ALL
Title 39 of the U.S. Code states that the U.S. Postal Service is an independent organization of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. The postal workers wages vary. However the range is from about $37,600 to $63,800. That's a fair wage! As an independent organization the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) MUST be financially viable. When a business' best paying commodity (in this case first class mail) drops by about 30% its entire infrastructure must shrink acordingly. While layoffs and closings hurt, under Title 39, the U.S. taxpayers guarantee the USPS. We're on the hook for these huge losses. The USPS should have been preparing for ten years. E-mail and unline bill paying are not new ideas. Whatever is excess must go.
Postal Service Article Regarding "Excessing"
Thank you for your well-written article, Mr. Chesley - and, thank you for eloquently standing up for so many people who are being wronged by those entrusted with the duties to be prudent with their livelihoods. You speak of one town, one facility, but this is actually happening everywhere all over the USA: many towns/cities/facilities. The American public is already crying about unemployment now and how people need to work and spend in order to stimulate the economy. The impact on the American economy will be mindblowing after the PMG and lawmakers get done with the Postal Service! They call these "feasibility studies!" They are LIARS. If you want a good story, find out what's happening at the top. Everything just keeps unfolding...
Standards & Erroneous Numbers
Do not forget, for this proposal to be feasible, the Postal Service wants to change their Service Standards. There will no longer be overnight delivery of local First Class Mail. Yes, Richmond/Sandston currently does all the local collection mail on Saturdays only as there is no delivery on Sundays. In essence, Saturday mail is already being treated as though the standards have changed. The number of 255/260 people affected is erroneous. There are over 700 career employees employed at the Norfolk P&DC. These employees will be forced to retire, commute, move or find other positions in the district. This would have devastating effects locally. Send comments to MGR, C&I 1801 Brook Road Richmond, VA 23232 by Dec. 14, 2011.
Consolidation
When the Charlottesville processing plant closed everyone was told, "You won't notice any change in your mail delivery." Bull. There used to be 900,000 postal employees in the U.S. and now there are less than 600,000. So there has been plenty of downsizing already. The Sandston storage facility, I mean processing facility, is terrible. As the article says, it's the worst facility of it's size in the country. You can read the audit at http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/NO-AR-11-008.pdf . The biggest problem was a lack of workers. How much mail was found delayed? 156 million pieces! Not 156 thousand pieces, but 156 MILLION!! Go ahead. Close the Norfolk facility. There's no service left in the Postal Service anyway
you have to cut somewhere
The largest cost to USPS is personnel. If you are going to make cuts and get in the black you have to cut people. It is not pleasant but it is the reality of business.
The real issue may be pay compared to Fedex and UPS as well as the union benefits these workers receive which make it unsustainable. Or we could all just pay $1 per letter.
do you have any idea??
do you have any idea what UPS drivers make?
Or did you know that UPS drivers are union workers too?
Obviously not.
Blissfully detached from reality.
exactly
Well put, but some people just can't understand that a job pays x-amount... whether in benefits or pay, not both.
I'm sure if union workers are laid off, we the taypayers will cover "free" education and a wealth of other "benefits" like the UAW at the old Ford plant.
post office
Usually I do not comment but today I will make an exception:
Do you think that your postal "worker" determines delivery times and transit times? Do you also believe that the grocery store stock-boy, and cashier, determine how many registers to open and what items to carry in stock?
20% drop in volume, however I think there has been close to 20% drop in personal in the last 5 years also. The numbers of homes delivered to has not decreased, instead it has increased thus it would be logical to expect that it would take longer to delver the mail to your address.
I doubt that the time savings from putting 4 letters instead of 5 in your box is much, however if you have to travel/walk to another 300 addresses it will take more time.
Postal Service
Yes, there has been a 20% drop in mail volume, but they always conveniently leave out the 35% INCREASE in parcel volumes! Besides the fact the FedEx and UPS have contracted with USPS to deliver THEIR MAIL whenever it is more costly for them to do so. The clerk craft will get no cost of living raises for years, but mangement will get their NPA. The biggest problem with the USPS are the people running it! I guess you could say 20% drop in first-class mail because the USPS has given mailers so many perks they don't send anything first-class anymore! They are master-manipulators in jacking with words and numbers.
Oh, please ...
Roger, I enjoy your columns, but, respectfully, this one is all emotion and no logic.
You recognize that "snail mail" is off a staggering 20 percent in just 5 years. Why do you find it shocking that fewer people are needed to deliver far less mail?
Do you really believe all these people should be stay on the payroll simply because matching the payroll to the work load means somebody will suffer? What kind of logic is that? This is a *business*, isn't it?
And what is wrong with requiring a pension plan to be adequately funded? Failure to do so is what bankrupted Social Security and has devastated so many retirees with unfunded private plans.
By your thinking, society would still be supporting people who make buggy whips and quill pens.