Yesterday, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced plans to consolidate 229 out of its 461 mail processing locations in two phases.

In a press conference, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe stated that the agency does not move enough mail to justify the need for all their mail processing centers and the consolidation is necessary as part of its cost-cutting efforts.  USPS owes approximately $20 billion to its employee pension fund and last week the agency announced that it lost $3.2 billion in the first three months of 2012.  The consolidating plan, if fully implemented, is expected to save about $2.1 billion per year.

Under the agency’s two phase plan, the first phase would consolidate 48 processing centers as early as August, and 140 in all through February 2013. However, no closures would occur from September through December 2012 to accommodate for the election and holiday seasons.  The second phase of consolidations, scheduled to begin in early 2014, would target another 89 facilities unless the agency’s circumstances change.  A list of the first phase of mail processing consolidations can be found at: http://bit.ly/JaTHDr.

The agency’s announcement comes as Congress is working on postal reform bills.  The Senate passed its postal reform bill (S 1789) in April and the House has yet to schedule floor time for its bill (HR 2309).  Unlike the House bill, the Senate passed legislation would give several mail processing facilities a three-year reprieve from closing.