Postal Service to offer buyouts

Employees represented by the American Postal Workers Union or the National Postal Mail Handlers Union who are eligible to retire or who agree to resign will be eligible for buyout packages worth $15,000. The offer will not be available to electronic technicians because those positions are understaffed, according to USPS spokesman Greg Frey. Those represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers or the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, as well as managers and executives, are not eligible to receive buyouts.

"We are in a position where we have more employees than we need," Frey said, citing the recession, increased use of the Internet, and advances in mail-sorting technology.

Those who take the incentive will receive $10,000 in October, and another payment of $5,000 in October 2010. Up to 30,000 workers can take advantage of the buyouts on a first-come, first-served basis.

The beleaguered agency has been coping with a drop in printed mail and congressional mandates to prefund its Treasury retirement account. USPS has said it does not expect to meet a scheduled $5.4 billion payment for future retirements on Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

In July, the Government Accountability Office placed the Postal Service on its list of federal agencies and programs at high risk of waste, fraud and abuse.

Two bills in Congress -- H.R. 22 and S. 1507 -- would give the Postal Service more flexibility on its retirement payments, but officials have said more drastic reforms are needed to keep the agency viable. One option USPS officials and Congress are mulling is to reduce service by eliminating Saturday delivery -- a move that could result in layoffs, USPS acting Vice President Jordan Small told the House Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce, Postal Service and District of Columbia Subcommittee at a hearing in July.

CORRECTION: The original version of this story said buyout payments would be distributed in October 2010 and October 2011. The correct dates are October 2009 and October 2010. The article has been updated to correct the error.