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Postal Service to offer buyouts
The U.S. Postal Service, which has been digging deep to find cost-cutting measures in the face of declining revenues, announced on Tuesday that it will offer buyouts for up to 30,000 employees.
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.
COMMENTS
- I know this article applies to the Postal Service. Can you provide input as to whom I can address my question. Will there be a buyout package (Incentive), for VA employees. Cesar Sifuentes Posted November 20, 2009 9:11 AM
- Will there be a buyout package (Incentive) for supervisors to retire earlier than there official retirement date. If so what would be the amount. My retirement date is 2013, but I would really like to retire no, if there was an acceptable incentive package to supplement the early out penalty Please Respond Thanks Terry Terry Bee Posted November 14, 2009 9:07 PM
- Postal management ranks were dramatically increased during the late 90's and early 2000's.The increase corresponded with the period of irrational exuberance that the country was engaged in at the time.Mail volume numbers had been exaggerated for years and businesses were being created out of thin air to produce unnecessary things for people to buy with borrowed money that they couldn't pay back.Now the party is over and Mr. Potter and the boys would have the public believe that the sky is falling down.This is a lie!During the 70's,80's and 90's the Postal Service inflated mail volume figures to justify the introduction of mail processing equipment.Enough equipment was acquired to supply private mail processing concerns.Now that those businesses have the equipment the Postal Service can close it's mail processing facilities and lay off employees.Postal officials will still control the distribution.Storage,processing and transportation will be private.Postal Officials will be in position to be the only full time employees soon because they intend to replace the carriers with part time workers.Managers will be getting kick backs from mail processing companies and trucking companies.Many managers will set up their own companies with the inside information that they obtained from their tenure with the service.This is how UPS made such tremendous strides.The number of U.S. addresses grows by 1.5 million each year.Postal loss is due to the companies that have gone out of business as a result of the recession.Put Mr.Potter and the other postal officials on contract along with the equipment manufacturers and the mass mailers who deal primarily with advertising mail.Give them three years.If they can't demonstrate that a profit can be made from the processing and distribution of the type of mail that they have conspired to promote,terminate the contract and get some new managers.Put the Postal Service on the stock exchange and make the clerks and carriers,along with the public,the primary stock holders.Clerks and carriers should be the only full time employees and they should be the front line of home land security. allen sanford Posted September 1, 2009 10:47 AM
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