U.S. Postal Service plans retooling in face of downturn

By Andrea Holecek, Times of Northwest Indiana
andrea.holecek@nwi.com

The U.S. Postal Service, both locally and nationally, reported it is retooling its operations in response to the large year-over-year drop in mail volume as the economy and the Internet took an ever-increasing toll on postal use.

Indiana's mail volume fell 15.2 percent in the past year while total nationwide volume fell 4.5 percent, or 9.5 million pieces, said E. Lynn Smith, district manager of customer service and sales for the Greater Indiana District of the U.S. Postal Service.

A combination of factors, including the economy, the drop in mailings by advertisers, the reduction in the size of some magazines and e-mail messaging contributed to the decline, postal officials said.

The Postal Service, which is self-supporting through its own revenue, must reduce its costs and increase its cash intake by retooling itself, Smith said.

The service is offering early retirement to eligible employees, restructuring delivery routes, adjusting post office and processing plant hours, consolidating mail processing operations and postponing new office construction.

The service also is adopting a new strategy and program to be more competitive with package services such at United Parcel Service and FedEx, Smith said.

The price of a first-class stamp will increase by 2 cents to 44 cents on May 11. Legally, the price only can increase by the same or equal amount as the annual hike in the Consumer Price Index, Smith said, adding that raising it higher would create a downward spiral in postal use.

Eliminating a postal delivery day per week -- perhaps Saturday -- is a proposal Smith doesn't endorse.

"I have three years before I retire, and I wouldn't guess that it would happen in those years," he said. "I don't see a lot of support behind that from the private sector. And I don't see that it will get enough to get Congress to support it."

Smith said the trick is enacting changes without stirring too much negative reaction from the public.

"It's not business as usual," he said. "We don't want the public to lose confidence in our ability to collect and deliver the mail. As the economy rebounds, we want to become more efficient than we've ever been."