Thursday, November 6, 2014

USPS Network Consolidation: A Tale of 3 Pictures

A lot of ink has been spilled discussing and cussing the U.S. Postal Service's plan to close 82 mail processing centers next year. But the three images below tell the story in a nutshell.

David Williams, USPS' vice president of networks, showed these slides in a recent presentation to mailers about the "Phase II" consolidations scheduled to begin in January.

The first slide demonstrates why: The volume of highly profitable single-piece First Class letters is barely half of what it was seven years ago.
 
















The reduced volume is a major reason the Postal Service needs fewer sortation centers -- and the $750 million annual savings it estimates the consolidations will generate. ("AMP" refers to Area Mail Processing studies, USPS's process for evaluating the expected impact and savings from potential plant consolidations.)

The second slide demonstrates that the plants to be closed are spread throughout the country and are primarily Processing & Distribution Centers. Williams said the closings will be part of another "methodical, measured transition" and that, as usual, affected employees will be offered "options for staying with the Postal Service" rather than being laid off.



















The third slide shows the end result: By next October, the Postal Service plans to have only 239 processing centers, down 64% since 2007.


Other articles about USPS plant closings:  

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So a 16% decline in First Class Mail justifies a 64% reduction in Mail Processing plants...

The remaining plants are now at saturation levels and to add more will cause gridlock of the whole system!

Who will be the loser... the American People and of course the winner will be the private companies that jump in and "Save the Day", i.e. Pitney Bowes, FedEx, and lets not forget UPS!

Anonymous said...

You conveniently forget to mention that although First Class mail is down, 3 pieces of Bulk letter size mail is needed to make up the loss in revenue. So now you have letter size volume increased compared to previous years. THe plants can't handle the letter size volume at their previous timetables. This is why Donohoe needs to eliminate next day delivery for First Class mail. The plants need more than an 8 hour window to process all that volume.

Anonymous said...

USPS revenue is rising, the recession is over… and now Headquarters wants to end the overnight delivery, nationwide, of First Class letters, flats, parcels and newspapers, so that they can fire the workers at the 82 Phase 2 plants. Talk about a federal agency being run into the ground...

Anonymous said...

Its a real dis-service to the public.The public wont care until the service gets so bad Americans will call to dismantel the service!

MMFallon said...

Commercial Fist Class Mail remains at almost the same level as 2013. The USPS loves to use the single-piece mail volume charts, although it represents the lowest percentage of mail being processed.

Here's a better chart:
http://www.berkshire-company.com/the-berkshire-company-blog/first-class-mail-volumes-facts-and-fiction

Anonymous said...

It's not about mail volume it's about money $65,000,000,000.00