“Mail is an increasingly important part of the U.S. election process and we areconfident in the dependable and timely delivery of election-related mail,” stated U.S. Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe.

In December, the U.S. Postal Service formed an agreement with Congress that no consolidation or closing of any postal facility will occur prior to May 15, 2012. Therefore, most closures or consolidations would have to take place starting after May 15, 2012, and be completed by August 31, 2012. Further consolidation of facilities would then continue in early 2013. The pursuit by the Postal Service of the significant consolidation of its national network of mail processing facilities is contingent upon its adoption of a final rule changing its delivery service standards.

For primary elections after May 15, the U.S. Postal Service is instituting a stateby-state outreach program to address the questions and concerns of election boards, political candidates and mailers.

In addition, for states that are promoting vote by mail, the proposed plan to study 3,600 Post Offices around the U.S. for possible closure will not adversely affect the voting process as customers have many ways in which to deposit mail, including with their carrier, with a retail partner, at a collection box location, or at a neighboring office within reasonable distance to their current location. The Postal Service is exploring options to provide customers with alternate access to postal services and products where they live, work and shop.

In keeping with that commitment, the results of the Area Mail Processing (AMP) facility studies announced last September are now available at http://usps.com/ourfuturenetwork.

This website provides information on the decision made in each study, including whether each facility will be closed or consolidated, remain open, or have its study placed on hold. For those facilities facing a change, the name of the “gaining site”— the facility where mail processing operations will be relocated — also is included.

Implementation of any consolidation or closure, however, is contingent upon the outcome of proposed revisions to existing service standards. In addition, no network changes will be implemented prior to May 15 of this year, in keeping with a moratorium on closing or consolidating postal facilities intended to give Congress and the Administration the opportunity to enact an alternative plan.

I would like to make it clear to you, our valued customers, that there will be no changes at this time to retail services and business mail acceptance located at any of the facilities involved in these studies.

Our commitment to you is:

• No immediate changes to business acceptance locations or hours of operation
• Deliberate timing of operational moves to limit customer impact
• Continuation of Destination Sectional Center Facility (DSCF) discounts at affected Bulk Mail Entry Units (BMEUs).
• Expanded Drop Shipment Appointments will be available
• Continual communications

Many of you have asked about the impact of these actions on BMEUs. Again, there will be no changes to BMEU hours or locations. Should a BMEU need to be relocated in the future, all customers would receive 120 days notice of the intended move, and any new location would be in close proximity to the original.

In addition, DSCF discounts will continue to be available for mailings entered at BMEUs that remain in impacted facilities. Mailers will be encouraged to align their preparation and entry to the new network. However, they will continue to receive drop-ship entry discounts for mail entered at impacted facilities based on 3-digit ZIP Codes currently allowed.

There will be no major consolidations during the fall mailing season, nor during the election mailing period, and Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST) appointments will be expanded to support shifting volumes across the network.

We know how important it will be for you, our customers, to have detailed site-specific information. In the very near future, our District Managers across the country will be inviting commercial mailers to meetings where they will share more detailed information and answer site-specific questions.

All of us at the Postal Service value your business and your support. Over the coming months, we will continue to keep you informed, and work closely with you to ensure a smooth transition.

Susan M. LaChance
Vice President
Consumer & Industry Affairs

Implementation of any consolidation or closure, however, is contingent upon the outcome of proposed revisions to existing service standards. In addition, no network changes will be implemented prior to May 15 of this year, in keeping with a moratorium on closing or consolidating postal facilities intended to give Congress and the Administration the opportunity to enact an alternative plan.

There will be no changes at this time to retail services and business mail acceptance located at any of the facilities involved in these studies. Destination Sectional Center Facility (DSCF) discounts will continue to be available in the near-term for mailings entered at Business Mail Entry Units (BMEUs) that remain in impacted facilities.

There will be no major consolidations during the fall mailing season, nor during the election mailing period, and Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST^®) appointments will be expanded to support shifting volumes across the network.

All of us at the Postal Service™ value your business and your support. Over the coming months, we will continue to keep you informed, and will work closely with you to ensure a smooth transition.

WASHINGTON — The Postal Service today took its case for five-day delivery to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC).

The Postal Service is required by law to seek an advisory opinion from the PRC any time a nationwide change in service is proposed. Today’s filing begins the PRC review.

A report accompanying the request notes, “The Postal Service does not take this change lightly and would not propose it if six-day mail service could be supported by current volumes. There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

The five-day delivery proposal is part of comprehensive plan announced March 2, “Delivering the Future,” a roadmap intended to bring certainty to a viable Postal Service well into the future and to help it recover from dramatic losses in volume resulting from electronic diversion and exacerbated by the economic recession.

The five-day report notes, “Ten years ago, the average household received five pieces of mail every day. Today, it receives four pieces and by 2020, that number will fall to three. Reducing street delivery to five days will help rebalance postal operations with the needs of today’s customers. It also will save more than $3 billion a year, including reductions in energy use and carbon emissions.”

Postmaster General John E. Potter said it was important to stress that the proposal dealt only with Saturday street delivery and that Post Offices will be open on Saturdays, access to P.O. boxes would continue, Express Mail would be delivered seven days a week and incoming mail would still be processed.

“It’s five days of delivery, six days of service and Express Mail seven days a week,” Potter noted adding that postal processing operations would continue on a seven-day schedule.

In addition to a review by the PRC, it’s also necessary for Congress to refrain from enacting legislation that would require the Postal Service to generally deliver mail six days a week after the end of fiscal year 2010.

The Postal Service report can be found at http://www.usps.com/communications/five-daydelivery and the request for the advisory opinion can be accessed at prc.gov.

The U.S. Postal Service is shifting operations in a continuing effort to improve productivity and increase efficiency.  The transfer of mail processing operations and equipment from the Wilkes-Barre Processing and Distribution Facility (P&DF) to the Scranton Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) and to the Lehigh Valley Processing and Distribution Center will tentatively begin in October, Central PA District Manager Edward B. Burke said.

The initial move will involve the 182 ZIP Codes shifting to the Lehigh Valley P&DC in Allentown which will be followed by the movement of 186 and 187 ZIP Codes to the Scranton P&DF.

Some affected career employees may be reassigned to the Scranton P&DC, Lehigh Valley P&DC or to other vacant positions.  This move will not have a negative effect on our customers.  Service levels will not be affected.  In fact, for a small number of customers, service will improve as some two-day service standards move to overnight.

This change is necessary in order to optimize our mail processing network and achieve the significant productivity and efficiency improvements expected with this consolidation.

For business mailers, the Wilkes-Barre Business Mail Entry Unit will continue to operate at the Wilkes-Barre facility.