News

August 28, 2009

Postal Service shipping out work

Mail processing, distribution, but not retail services, will be cut in Wilkes-Barre.

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – Saying its intent is to “improve productivity and increase efficiency,” the U.S. Postal Service will move mail processing and distribution operations from the Wilkes-Barre Processing and Distribution Facility to its Scranton and Lehigh Valley facilities beginning in October.

The news of the final decision brought criticism from the Local 175 American Postal Workers Union and from U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski. The Postal Service conducted public hearings earlier this year on the plan.

The transition will tentatively begin in October and be completed by January 2010. Retail services – window service and little else – in Wilkes-Barre will remain unchanged.

Postal officials insist local delivery will not be affected by the move. Some affected career employees may be reassigned to the Scranton and Lehigh Valley centers or to other vacant positions throughout the postal system.

“As is the case with the Postal Service as a whole, the Wilkes-Barre center has been experiencing a decline in mail volume, and the Scranton and Lehigh Valley have underutilized capacity. The move makes sense. Optimizing our processing network like this will help the Postal Service keep the cost of postage affordable for all Americans,” Central PA District Manager Edward B. Burke said.

Burke said he is confident the transition will be smooth and transparent to customers.

“I can’t believe this is actually going through,” said John Kishel, president of Local 175. “I am definitely disgusted about the decision. It is the wrong decision and does not make sense. As far as I’m concerned, we will still fight to stop this process.”

Kishel and the employees received words of support from Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, who issued an e-mailed statement.

“I am extremely disappointed with the Postmaster General’s decision to consolidate the mail processing center in Wilkes-Barre with other facilities,” Kanjorski said. “I do not believe that it will result in cost savings to the Postal Service, because the workers in the Wilkes-Barre facility are highly motivated and very efficient.

“From my meetings with them, I am convinced that if the Postal Service management worked more cooperatively with them, they could jointly find many more efficiencies that would not result in the loss of jobs to the Wilkes-Barre area and could maintain a high level of service to Postal customers. I will continue to work to find an alternative method of finding cost savings for the Postal Service.”

The Wilkes-Barre Post Office employs about 230, Kishel said, and at least 100 of the workers could be moved out of the city to other locations. Kishel said he has not been told how many jobs will be moved out of Wilkes-Barre.

“I know this will affect the majority of jobs in the Wilkes-Barre office,” Kishel said. “This loss of jobs will have a major impact on the city.”

In a letter to Kanjorski, Burke told the congressman that the community’s input was valued and carefully considered before making the final decision.

“The decline in mail volume and revenues due to the economic downturn has only heightened the need for such improvements,” Burke wrote to Kanjorski.

The Postal Service release said the Wilkes-Barre Business Mail Entry Unit will remain open for large volume business mailers. Full retail services will still be available at the Wilkes-Barre facility.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and post office boxes, six days a week.

The Postal Service has said the consolidation, which first surfaced in January, is expected to save around $4 million annually. Kishel said he doesn’t agree with the savings estimates.

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