“What you’re doing is taking away our business advantage,” said Dayton City Commissioner Nan Whaley. A representative from the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce said the postal service’s feasibility study does not take into account the adverse affect changes in mail service will have on the business community, which relies heavily on quick mail communication with customers.
The study says that moving the employee processing operation currently located on East Fifth Street with about 400 employees to Columbus will save USPS $14.1 million per year. That savings figure is updated from an estimate previously published in the Dayton Daily News. That number includes $6.6 million in employee savings, $2.53 million in management savings, $5.1 million in maintenance savings and takes into account a $142,228 annual increase in transportation costs. The employee savings are the result of a net decrease of 175 positions.
American Postal Workers Union employees have a no-layoff stipulation in their contract. A letter to local employees, Nov. 3 informed them that the proposed move could result in 398 involuntary reassignments to other locations.
Postal Service spokesman David Van Allen said if that plan is approved, USPS would work with labor unions to find positions in Columbus or elsewhere for the Dayton employees.
APWU Cincinnati Region Business Agent, Russell Bugary questioned how the move will save USPS money if positions are being moved, not eliminated.
The main proposal involves changing first-class mail from overnight status to two-day to three-day status. The Postal Service said this change will allow processing operations to occur during more hours of the day, instead of waiting until all mail is collected at night. The study suggests that having one site running 20 hours a day will be more cost effective than three sites running 6 hours each at night.
“Our mail processing network now is bigger than we can maintain,” said Chu Falling-Star, Cincinnati District manager. She said with first-class mail volume falling from 103 billion pieces annually in 2000 to 78 billion pieces in 2010, there is no longer any need for such an extensive network of processing sites.
She said businesses will still have the option of having their first-class mail delivered overnight, but would need to have that mail at the processing site by noon each day. Van Allen said the changes will be fairly seamless to average customers.
But Burgary said the same promises were made before the closure of the processing site in Lima and massive delays were experienced by customers, especially during the busy holiday season.
USPS is accepting comments at the Cincinnati District Offices, 1591 Dalton Ave., Cincinnati, 45234. They must be postmarked by Dec. 15.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2124 or kwedell@coxohio.com.
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