COPLEY TWP.: Merging Akron’s mail-processing operation with the Cleveland facility would save the United States Postal Service about $18 million a year by eliminating 241 jobs and reducing facility and transportation costs.
For customers, the move also would mean typical cards and letters that are delivered locally in one or two days would take two or three days, and businesses taking advantage of pre-sorted mail discounts would need to change when and where they drop off their items.
Those were some of the highlights at a public meeting the USPS hosted Tuesday night as officials sought to explain a proposal to consolidate several mail-processing facilities throughout Northeast Ohio.
The meeting came only a few hours after the national office announced it lost $5.1 billion this past fiscal year and is on track to lose $14.1 billion in fiscal 2012.
The USPS has been working to consolidate mail-processing operations in the face of a 22 percent decline in mail volume in five years and a nearly 50 percent drop in first-class mail (traditional cards and letters).
In September, USPS said it hoped to close more than half of its 487 mail-processing facilities to save $3 billion annually. Its plan is to serve the nation with fewer than 200 facilities by 2013.
More than a dozen Ohio facilities that process mail about six hours a day would be condensed into three sites — Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati — that would work almost around the clock.
The technology revolution has changed the way Americans communicate, officials said. From email and text messages to electronic bill payments, many paperless options have replaced the need for a stamped letter.
The economy, automated machinery and discount business-mail programs also have reduced the need for many mail-processing centers.
The USPS is taking comments on its proposal to merge its Akron operations into Cleveland through Nov. 30, after which it will decide whether to make the move.
Some 200 people, many of them affected postal workers, attended Tuesday’s meeting and challenged some of the USPS’ report after the presentation by regional manager Todd Hawkins.
He suggested the USPS would cut 226 workers and 15 managers, at a savings of $6.8 million from the processing employees and $3.9 million from the managers.
One employee said those numbers don’t add up, with it appearing that workers are making little more than $30,000 each and managers are making $260,000. The employee said average employees make $50,000 and managers don’t make anywhere near $260,000.
Hawkins said he couldn’t answer that question.
Others asked why Akron would be merged into Cleveland, which has a poorer service record than other facilities.
Hawkins said Akron doesn’t have the capacity for handling the region’s mail volume.
Still others questioned how the USPS would save $6.8 million from workers’ wages when union contracts prohibit layoffs.
Hawkins said some workers would be moved to fill vacancies in other areas and other jobs would be cut through attrition, but he couldn’t account for 241 positions.
Outside of the meeting, union representative Mary Sitko said that in two other states employees of consolidated mail-processing centers are reporting to inactive buildings because they could not be laid off and could not be placed.
She said Cleveland has 125 workers on standby, waiting to return to jobs, and that Canton, Mansfield and other processing centers have been proposed for consolidation and job cuts.
“There are going to be hundreds of employees with nowhere to go,” she said. Because they still would be paid, she’s uncertain how the USPS calculated its savings.
Several local congressional representatives sent staffers to the meeting.
In a statement read to the audience, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said he feared that moving the mail services to Cuyahoga County could slow delivery to outlying areas.
“For instance, the recent consolidation of the Lima Processing & Distribution Facility resulted in delayed mail to thousands of Ohioans for several months,” he said.
On Thursday, the USPS will present its report to a Canton audience, where it is proposing 139 jobs cut in the consolidation with Cleveland. The public hearing will be 7 p.m. at the Krassas Event Center, 251 25th St. NW.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.