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Dayton, Columbus postal jobs may merge

Mail-processing center on Fifth Street being studied, official says.

Mail handler Michele Dorsten places flats of mail on a machine to be sorted at the Dayton Main Post Office on Fifth St. on Tuesday, July 19.

Teesha McClam Mail handler Michele Dorsten places flats of mail on a machine to be sorted at the Dayton Main Post Office on Fifth St. on Tuesday, July 19.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Teesha McClam Mail handler Michael Grant prepares the mail for multiple sorts at the Dayton Main Post Office on Fifth St. on Tuesday, July 19.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Tim Tresslar, Staff Writer 8:52 PM Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Officials for the financially stressed U.S. Postal Service are studying whether some functions — and possibly jobs — at the mail-processing center near downtown Dayton could be moved to a similar facility in Columbus.

The study of operations at the 450-employee center on Fifth Street will take two months to complete, said David Walton, a USPS spokesman.

The aim is not to close the Dayton facility, he said.

“At this point, we don’t know if any jobs will be impacted, how many or if any at all,” Walton said. “We’ll know that once we get our initial findings.”

The examination will look at such issues as usage of individual machines and whether trucks leave the center fully loaded, Walton said.

“Once we gather all that data, then we make a decision as to whether it would be feasible to proceed with it,” Walton said. “At that point, if we decide to move ahead, we would have a public meeting to hear from stakeholders and customers.”

Officials have conducted similar studies elsewhere as the postal service looks for ways to offset revenue declines, Walton said.

In recent years, the postal service has struggled with declines in mail volume and, consequently, revenue. Walton said the agency funds itself entirely through the revenue it generates.

Postal officials say the declines stem primarily from increased use of electronic communication, such as email and online bill payments. The economic recession — with its accompanying cuts to corporate marketing budgets — cut into direct-mail advertising, Patrick Donahoe, postmaster general and chief executive of the USPS, told the U.S. Senate.

While the amount of advertising mail has increased, it hasn’t recovered enough to make up for declines in first-class mail, Donahoe testified on May 17 to a senate subcommittee.

The organization lost $2.6 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year, compared to a loss of $1.9 billion during the same period a year ago, the postmaster said. Walton said the postal service lost $8 billion last year.

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