{"id":4301,"date":"2012-05-06T11:45:47","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T16:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=4301"},"modified":"2012-05-06T11:48:10","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T16:48:10","slug":"pmg-we-never-used-the-word-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2012\/05\/06\/pmg-we-never-used-the-word-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"PMG: We Never Used the Word \u2018Closure\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

PMG: We Never Used the Word \u2018Closure\u2019<\/p>\n

In an interview televised on C-SPAN on April 27<\/a>, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe down-played the threat of post office and mail processing plant closures and suggested no major changes would take place anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Closure\u2019 is a word we\u2019ve never used,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

How about a March 7 USPS press release<\/a> [PDF] that said, \u201cMost closures or consolidations would have to take place starting after May 15, 2012, and be completed by August 31, 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there was the Nov. 16, 2011, submission to the Postal Regulatory Commission<\/a> [PDF] that said the USPS would \u201cRedesign the operating network, infrastructure, and processes by reviewing retail office productivity and studying under-utilized offices for potential consolidation, closure or conversion\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Before that there was the Sept. 15, 2011, press release<\/a> that said, \u201cProposals under consideration include studying nearly 250 processing facilities for possible consolidation or closure\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And an Aug. 5, 2011, USPS press release<\/a> said, \u201cThe Postal Service announced plans on July 25 to identify and study nearly 3,700 under-utilized Post Offices for possible closure\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

APWU Executive Vice President Greg Bell said, \u201cWhether the Postmaster General calls it \u2018closure,\u2019 \u2018consolidation,\u2019 \u2018right-sizing,\u2019 or \u2018rationalizing the network,\u2019 it means the same thing: Drastic cuts to service, jobs, and the postal network, the closure of post offices and mail processing facilities, and irreparable harm to the USPS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers Weigh In<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the Postmaster General\u2019s reassurances about how many consolidations will be implemented \u2014 and when \u2014 aren\u2019t very comforting either. As the March 7 press release notes, the USPS plans to implement as many closures as possible by Aug. 31, before the start of the fall mailing season. This confirms what postal executives told the APWU on Feb. 13<\/a>: They plan to begin consolidating mail processing facilities as soon as the moratorium on consolidations ends.<\/p>\n

Many lawmakers don\u2019t seem to be taking the PMG at his word. The four co-sponsors of a Senate postal reform bill have asked Donahoe to extend the moratorium until after legislation is enacted. In a letter dated April 30, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), wrote, \u201cThere is considerable concern in the Senate that this approach will unnecessarily degrade the infrastructure which is one of the Postal Service\u2019s most important assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe an attempt to proceed with the planned closures \u2014 to \u2018get in under the wire\u2019 while legislation to the contrary is being considered \u2014 would be counterproductive and would violate the clear intent of the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days later, 43 senators, including 37 Democrats, five Republicans, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) also asked Donahoe to extend the moratorium on the closing of post offices and mail processing facilities. In a letter dated May 2<\/a> [PDF], they wrote, \u201cWe are deeply concerned that the closing of these postal facilities prior to postal reform legislation being enacted would be devastating to communities around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, three Republicans \u2014 Sen. John McCain (AZ), Sen. Tom Coburn (OK), and Sen. Bob Corker (TN) \u2014 are urging Donahoe to quickly implement planned cutbacks. \u201cDespite the Senate’s passage last week of S. 1789, the 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012, we believe it is very unlikely that both the House and Senate will come to agreement on legislation that reforms the postal system anytime soon and strongly encourage you to move forward with the cost-saving changes you have previously outlined,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

In other words, \u201cImplement the closures.\u201d The ones the PMG never mentioned?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PMG: We Never Used the Word \u2018Closure\u2019 In an interview televised on C-SPAN on April 27, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe down-played the threat of post office and mail processing plant closures and suggested no major changes would take place anytime soon. \u201c\u2018Closure\u2019 is a word we\u2019ve never used,\u201d he said. Really? How about a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apwu-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4301"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4307,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301\/revisions\/4307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}