Post Office to Layoff 30,000

If you are the kind of person who gives your letter carrier a holiday gift then you will be unhappy to hear about the following news, since you may have no one to give a gift to next year.

The U.S. postal service is getting ready to do something completely unprecedented in its history. They are getting ready to layoff members of their staff. In what is an expected move for an organization that is just now able to layoff workers for the first time in its history, the numbers are not small. If all goes according to the current plan about 30,000 postal workers are expected to be out of a job at some point in 2012.

Where are the job cuts coming from?

To start with hundreds of rural post offices were give notification, over the summer months, that they would most likely be shut down at some point during the 2012 year. In addition several processing centers were given more recent notice that are going to be closed during the year to come. While we do not have a full list of locations at the current moment some of the locations include Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Topeka, Kansas.

Why are the cuts being made?

A lot of people have been asking exactly why it is that this government agency needs to cut back this much staff? That is best explained by some of our earlier coverage on the issue. Here is an excerpt:

“What got them into such dire straights? Well, as email has come into style less of us are sending printed letters, about 22% less. In addition the Postal Service has competition in the form of both UPS and FedEx. Unlike the postal service these companies can charge what they like and can get rid of surplus staff at will. In addition, unlike other federal agencies the Post Office does not receive money from the government, “

Other Measures

In addition to laying off the workers the post office is also going in increase the cost of sending a letter. USPS Vice President David Williams told the Associated Press the following about the cuts. “Are we writing off first class mail?” asked Williams. “No, but customers are making their choices and what we’re doing is responding to the current market conditions and placing the Postal Service on a path allowing us to respond to future changes. We have to do what’s in our control to put the Postal Service on solid financial ground.” The fee increase is expected to go into effect on the 22nd of January.
On an interesting note the postal service also expects that these closures will result in a delay in services for many customers, of between one and three days for first class mail. There is just one problem here, the agency could be leading itself in a death spiral. As service slows it is likely that more consumers will chose to use emails, or a private courier service (such as UPS or FedEx) in order to get their packages delivered in a timely manner, leading to lower revenues, more closures and further delays.