150K USPS Workers Offered Early Retirement
March 21, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Business
About 150,000 United States Postal Service workers (about one fourth of USPS workers) will be offered early retirement, they announced today. The Postal Service has been hard-hit by the recession, and this is just one of the ways they hope to eliminate costs.
They’ve already cut over 50 million workhours, and some post office locations have less hours, depending on their traffic. Some have pushed for the elimination of Saturday delivery, which would cut the number of workhours for post office employees even more.
Also announced today, six of the 80 USPS district offices will be closing. The offices are locates in Lake Mary, FL; North Reading, MA; Manchester, NH; Edison, NJ; Erie, PA, and Spokane, WA. District offices only house administration, so service and zip codes in these areas won’t change. By closing these offices and offering the early retirement, the Postal Service expects to save over $100 million every year.
In February, the USPS announced that stamp prices will jump from 42 cents to 44 cents starting on May 11. The average consumer can expect to spent an additional $3 on stamps annually with this increase.
Picture via sxc.hu.
