MANSFIELD -- Delivery of first-class mail here could be delayed
if the U.S. Postal Service sticks with plans to move local
operations to Akron, post office employees said Thursday.
Members of the American Postal Workers Union staged an
informative, late-afternoon picket in front of the North Diamond
Street post office.
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Karen See, president of the
APWU local, said the union is protesting the proposed consolidation
of more than 100 mail processing and distribution facilities
throughout the country, including Mansfield. "We think it's
going to cause delays in the mail," she said. "The Mansfield post
office has already had its business mail consolidated into Akron and
I can tell you right now the mail is being delayed because of that
consolidation and we know firsthand that it is not a good idea."
See said the USPS is considering moving Mansfield's first-class
mail operation to Akron.
"You could be looking at later pick-ups for your mail, later
deliveries, up to a week's delay in getting your mail," See said.
Victor Durbina, the USPS northern Ohio district spokesman, said
he is not aware of any immediate changes in Mansfield's first-class
mail processing. He referred to a dozen area mail processing
studies.
"These studies look at mail processing functions and see where we
can do things that make sense without sacrificing the quality of our
service and keep postage rates low," he said.
Durbina said the U.S. Postal Service is simply adjusting to
current technology and added that over the last six years,
first-class mail nationally has declined from 103.5 billion items to
about 98 billion annually.
"How people use the mail is changing," Durbina said. "Last year,
we had 363 million transactions via the postal service's Web site,
which means that people are doing business at home and not having to
drive up to the window.
"At the same time, we're cognizant of our standards of service,
which are at their highest they've been in our history."
mansfieldnewsjournal.com
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