Donahoe
Youngstown
The Youngstown mail processing and distribution center will close by February 2013.
The U.S. Postal Service announced Thursday the closing of the city facility along with 139 other locations by early next year. About 500 employees work at the downtown processing and distribution facility. The distribution center in New Castle, Pa., also is scheduled to close.
The postal service also announced a second and final phase of 89 consolidations is scheduled to begin in February 2014.
The post office delayed its consolidations this year to allow customers and employees more time to plan, said Patrick R. Donahoe, postmaster general and chief executive officer of the USPS.
“We simply do not have the mail volumes to justify the size and capacity of our current mail-processing network,” Donahoe said. “To return to long-term profitability and financial stability while keeping mail affordable, we must match our network to the anticipated workload.”
The employees at the Youngstown distribution center will not lose their jobs based on the closure, said David Van Allen, a postal service spokesman.
Most staff reductions are expected to come through retirements, he said.
The postal service also is planning an early-retirement plan for employees that will be announced when it is completed, Van Allen said.
“This is a disaster,” said Sally Davilow, spokeswoman for the American Postal Workers Union.
The two phases planned will eliminate about half of the postal distribution centers nationally, she said.
Most people think the postal service’s problems are due to email or other electronic services. The real reason, however, comes from a 2006 bill that forces the postal service to fund health benefits for retirees in advance, Davilow said. The advance funding costs the postal service $5.5 billion per year.
“There is no other government agency or private business that has that kind of requirement,” she said.
The union is encouraging residents who are upset by the changes to call their congressmen, she said. The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would help the postal service, but the House has not taken up the issue.
“People all over the country were protesting the closure of these locations, but it did not make a difference,” she said.
Before the postal service began its study, 229 locations were considered for closure. That same number are scheduled for closure in both phases, Davilow said.
“The post office needs to modernize. It should add new services and products,” she said.
Other locations in Ohio scheduled to close include Portsmouth, Dayton, Mansfield, Athens, Ironton, Steubenville, Canton, Wooster, Cambridge, Chillicothe, Coshocton and Massillon.
Comments
These closings are merely adjustments that are long overdue. The real disasters will occur following the reelection of our current president.
Photoman you are right on, bring back the Bush years!
Photoman, I couldn't agree more. The Dems know they have this areas votes locked up no matter what they do, or don't do. Airbase is next,mark my words. Hey Libs, how do you like your change??? FORWARD! LOL LOL
While I agree that the USPS must adjust to the times and the lack of demand, the advance funding costs are a bit ridiculous.
Hey Obasa, Ryan and Brown with the scraggly hair, Why not cut foreign aid out before cutting middleclass workers jobs? Mahoning valley needs to send a messege to these lamebrains and toss em out.
Bring back the Bush years --- because Repubs know that being lied into a war that cost over $1 trillion is a financially better toption han spending $5 billion on USPS retiree health benefits!
MORONS.
I see posts here that just don't seem to understand the problem. The post office is becoming an antique. Times have changed. The compensation with benefits are not sustainable anymore. It's not due to wars or Repubs or Dems. It's too costly to maintain. The union spokeswoman is correct. This is a disaster. It's like selling adding machines or black and white T.V.'s. Those days are gone. You seem to think our government should deeply fund an industry that is not coming back. Why? Industries like this, as in the auto industry, must re-structure, not just be bailed out. However, he auto industry could come back. The post office, never. The advance health funding is a nail in the coffin, but the grave had already been dug.
Say thank you TEA . Cut those low life jobs
And there you have a prime example. "Free" just doesn't understand what this is about. Wants to blame a party instead of how lives and times moves on. Always thinks the government 's job is to make life beautiful for everyone. Make everyone fat and happy. Thinks everything should be fair for everyone. That's not how it works. Or realistic. These jobs are gone due to lifestyle changes, new inventions, new ways of communicating. "Free" doesn't seem to understand that. Sad as it may be, that's life. That's how it changes. Some prepare for change. Some just cry, whine, and blame.
Same ol' few on here, always got to blame the Dems for everything ! LOL Just cant think out of the box !! Wake up its 2012 ~~