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twitterMail set to take the long way home
A Postal Service cost-cutting tactic will move the processing of some Las Vegas mail to Phoenix
Chris Morris
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
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Beyond the Sun
Mail for Las Vegas residents who have moved and filed forwarding addresses will soon be trucked eight hours to Phoenix for additional processing and then returned here, under a new U.S. Postal Service cost-cutting plan that will delay mail delivery by a day or longer.
The tactic will add efficiency to the post office, at the expense of customers who are waiting for Social Security checks, prescription drugs and other critical mail. About 100,000 pieces of mail forwarded each week in the Las Vegas region will now be first processed in Phoenix.
The change comes as the Postal Service, which is losing $7 billion each year, closes its Central Forwarding System in Las Vegas to save an estimated $1.2 million a year.
It is more cost-effective to truck that mail to Phoenix, where postal workers have time on their hands, said David Rupert, a Denver-based postal spokesman for the Western states.
“That sounds like a long way away. But we run a 24-hour operation,” Rupert said.
When the Las Vegas forwarding center closes Oct. 23, the 20 employees who work there will bid on new job assignments.
They’re none too happy, and say mail will be delayed by two days or more.
“The people in D.C. are just trying to save money,” lamented one worker. “They have no idea what it will mean to get mail late in Nevada.”
Workers were notified in August that forwarding centers were being shuttered and employees reassigned not just in Las Vegas but in eight other Western cities as well. Forwarded mail for Spokane, Wash., will be sorted in Seattle, for instance; forwarded mail for Fargo, N.D., will be handled in Minneapolis; and forwarded mail for Reno will be sent off to Salt Lake City.
In Las Vegas, a historically transient town — and more so since the recession hit — 800,000 change-of-address cards are filled out each year.
Shipping mail to Phoenix will not be problematic, Rupert said.
“We’ve already got trucks going there,” he said. “And we have underutilized equipment and personnel in Phoenix. So this is just making the most of our operations.”
The Postal Service has got to find a way to cut costs, he said. In a world of e-mail and Twitter, the company is hemorrhaging money with less volume but still works under a congressional mandate to deliver six days a week. “We don’t have nearly the workload that goes through all those centers anymore,” he said.
Workers, declining to be quoted by name with their new job assignments up in the air, see it as a customer service issue.
“It’s going to be a big mess,” one said. “We’re worried about people’s medication, priority mail, Social Security checks, people’s bills, even Christmas cards and election mail.
“It will take eight hours to go down to Phoenix and another eight on the way back. Just think of all that mail going down to Phoenix. That’s not customer service at all.”
Another worker, with more than two decades of service, said the new jobs being offered involve overnight shifts and split days off. “They’re crappy jobs,” she said.
They pleaded their case in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office — which they said they hand-delivered to his Las Vegas office rather than risk it being delayed by the post office. Calling the Phoenix move a cost-cutting scheme, they urged Reid to keep Las Vegas mail in Las Vegas.
The letter sought a “full, public accounting of how the consolidation would affect our mail and our local economy,” and asked him to “oppose any consolidation plans that would reduce service for mail to be forwarded in our state.”
Reid’s office said it is monitoring the situation, and his spokesman, Jon Summers, said the senator “is pleased that no jobs will be lost as part of the realignment.”
But a social service advocate is concerned that a two-day delay in mail could harm people who move around a lot and depend on their mail being forwarded to their newest address.
Linda Lera-Randle El, who runs the Straight from the Streets project, said a delay of a day or two is significant for those who depend on speedy welfare support, payroll checks and prescription medicines. “That’s a lot of people,” she said.
“And it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to send it to Phoenix to send it back here. I don’t know whose bright idea that was. But someone’s cord isn’t plugged into the wall.”
Rupert, the postal official in Denver, said the consolidation is justified given what the Postal Service is up against. And he suggested that if someone is moving and worried about his mail taking longer, “change your address (with the sender) as quickly as possible. We encourage people to do that.”
Discussion: 20 comments so far…
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gloriaboddie probably said what I was thinking. No wonder the USPS is in such bad shape. I wish they would 'spy' on our postal carrier. Numerous breaks in our housing unit alone because 'if I get through early, they make me work at the post office.' Disgusting!
Americans still arguing to keep things that do not work...postal service... USPS provides a service, if you don't like it, don't use it. Quit bickering and complaining and demanding government oversight. Get your prescriptions delivered by Vons or another company that uses DHL or something.
Plain and simple, USPS is a service run by people who are stuck in a mentality that they will never go away and the government will protect them, they will go away because they refuse to be innovative and streamlined,and provide a service so great, that we need them forever! Overall...their service sucks.
I feel no remorse for the sinking USPS ship.
The postal service is another example of an inefficient bloated bureaucracy. They are losing billions of dollars and make token cuts. What about laying off 20-30% workers ,cutting out delivery one day a week as a start. It will never happen. They will transfer 5 workers and call it cost cutting.
What will they think of next? Truck the mail to New York because they have faster mail processing?
they could care less whether or not we get our mail on time. i've never heard them speak about the miserable mail service up until today.
they just care about saving their jobs.
"Get your prescriptions delivered by Vons or another company that uses DHL or something."
DHL is out of business.
I am a postal employee and can say that the majority of the work force "does care" about taking great care of everyones mail. I don't think it would be so burdonsome to receive the mail one day later for most. Since people take for granted the Post Offices Universal Service for all Americans no matter where they live it is in financial straits. Stop having your bills sent online and paying them online. Request Postal Services from companies who ship items to you. Citizens in very rural areas count on the Post Office to deliver their mail. It is incumbent upon all Americans to insure that this does not stop. The competition charges much more for these areas and will not deliver to a few areas. There are people in rural areas that receive the same necessaties in the mail as others and often have less income to pay the premium rates of other companies.
Well, USPS is currently crying "poor mouth" but still mandating that their employees work holidays and pay them double time?
If it doesn't make sense, it isn't true.
I've actually never had a problem with the post office, mail service or it's employees. Like the rest of us, they do need to cut costs. Many times they are compared to FedEx, Ups, etc. On the package delivery, that's a fair comparison, but nobody else delivers letters, magazines, bill payments, (along with bills) in the volume to most parts of the country in a few days. No, I'm not an employee or related to one. I just don't know of anyone else who will deliver a letter anywhere in the country in 3 days for less than 50 cents. I do generally use USPS for small packages, but prefer FrdEx Ground for larger ones. I get my prescriptions at the pharmacy.
Get rid of the TONS of junk mail being delivered every single days to homes. The expense of delivering it would shock you !!.Make people pick their junk mail at the US post office. Leave delivery to REAL MAIL, important mail,enough of all this @#@#.
I have had nothing but problems with my mail. I keep getting mail from as much as three blocks away. It's like the mailman can't read. I wonder whose getting my mail? I am glad that I pay all my bills on line.(Bank by Mail).The post office is a dinosaur that they need to let die.
And this is the same company that wants to run the health system?Our US government.
I use UPS because I do not have to pay extra for insurance, there tracking system is better and there people actually act happy to see me. There are three post offices in my area and I avoid them all. Want to solve the problem? Let customer's rate their performance's like they do at Jack in The Box. To many complaint's? Your gone!
fedex sends everything to memphis to be sorted, dhl used to send everything to OH for sort.
it is only a six hour trip, but sometimes weather or accidents block the roads...I'm calling Harry Reid he will stop this
Rumrunner makes a great point. We should have the Postal Service follow the example set by private for-profit health insurers. The entire USPS should be dismantled immediately. That way, when I want to send my Dad a birthday card, rather than spend 44 cents for a stamp, I can pay FedEx $17.30.
The US Postal service is one of the only good government run agencies.