12/6/2011
By CHRIS HUNTER and TIM UNRUH Salina Journal
Less than a week after regional U.S. Postal Service officials told Salinans that it would take months to study a proposal to close the Salina mail processing facility, the U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that it intends to close the Salina facility and 251 others.

At a news briefing in Washington on Monday, postal Vice President David Williams said the post office needs to move quickly to cut costs as it seeks to stem five years of red ink amid steadily declining mail volume, according to an Associated Press report.

While the plan must await an advisory opinion from the independent Postal Regulatory Commission in March, the commission's opinion is nonbinding.

Salina Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dennis Lauver said Monday he wasn't shocked by the announcement.

"A week after taking input and saying it would be a lengthy process, the Postal Service announced the closing," Lauver said. "I will let people draw their own conclusions as to whether or not at the Wednesday evening meeting (in Salina) whether a decision had been reached long before Monday (Dec. 5) morning."

'No one believes me'

At Wednesday's meeting, Rick Pivovar, U.S. Postal Service district manager for the Central Plains, said a decision to close the Salina processing center had not been made.

"I know no one believes me," Pivovar told the crowd.

Pivovar told people that their comments at the meeting, or those mailed to the Postal Service by Dec. 15, would be taken into consideration of any possible closing.

Lauver said he first learned about the Salina facility being studied in April. He didn't attend the meeting last week but said the Salina chamber has had numerous discussions with the Postal Service about keeping the Salina processing facility open. Lauver said the chamber is submitting comments.

Under the plan, Kansas processing centers in Hutchinson, Dodge City, Hays and Salina would be consolidated into the Wichita processing; the center in Colby would be moved to Denver; the center in Liberal would be moved to Amarillo, Texas, and Topeka's center would be consolidated into the Kansas City, Mo., facility.

Losing 28,000 jobs

Salina is among 252 processing centers in the United States that are currently under review. The move would eliminate roughly 28,000 jobs nationwide, and contribute to $3 billion in reductions aimed at helping the agency avert bankruptcy next year, the Association Press reported Monday. The agency already has announced a 1-cent increase in first-class mail to 45 cents beginning Jan. 22.

Brian Sperry, a postal service spokesman in Denver, said the postal service's initial study supports consolidating Salina with Wichita because eliminating mail processing in Salina would save approximately $1 million a year.

What's prompted the proposed change is a 27 percent decline in first class mail volume -- the Postal Service's "bread and butter" -- in the past five years, he said, and projections of a 50 percent decline from today by 2020.

"As a result of this volume loss, we have more facilities and people that we need to process a declining volume of mail," Sperry said.

Salina to lose 18 jobs

When the processing center in Salina is closed, the city will lose 18 postal jobs while Wichita will gain 21.

Pivovar told people at Wednesday's meeting that 16 processing employees and two supervisors would lose their positions in Salina if the postal service moved the facility to Wichita. Under the postal service's collective bargaining agreement, the postal service would attempt to find jobs for displaced employees at other facilities.

Lauver said his concern was for the employees who will lose their jobs at the Salina processing facility.

¬ "The paramount thing is that I feel bad for the employees who are highly efficient," Lauver said. "None of this is about Salina, Kansas. If it was, they would be looking at how to keep open the Salina facility because of its efficiency and location."

Congress has to act

According to the Associated Press, separate bills have passed House and Senate committees that would give the postal service more authority and liquidity to stave off immediate bankruptcy. But prospects are somewhat dim for final congressional action on those bills anytime soon, especially if the measures are seen in an election year as promoting layoffs and cuts to neighborhood post offices.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has been pushing for congressional changes that would give the agency more authority to reduce delivery to five days a week, raise stamp prices and reduce health care and other labor costs. But the agency also opposes current provisions in the House and Senate measures that would require additional layers of review before it could close post offices and processing centers.

'We have to change'

The Postal Service, an independent agency of government, does not receive tax money, but is subject to congressional control on major aspects of its operations. The changes in first-class mail delivery could go into place without permission from Congress.¬ 

"We are relying heavily on Congress to change our business model," Sperry said. "We're confident Congress will do it. To remain at the status quo is something we can't do. We have to change."

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