The American Postal Workers Union is scrambling to block a potential deal between the Postal Service and the Staples office supply chain to open up USPS postal counters in its stores.
APWU members and labor activists recently picketed to protest what the union called a “sweetheart” deal with the retailer.
APWU claims that the Postal Service plans to extend its pilot project to 1,500 Staples locations nationwide while management proceeds with network consolidation plans.
An internal USPS memo from 2012 that APWU posted online describes the potential labor and transactions savings by partnering with retail locations. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has denied that the pilot is an end-run toward privatization of core USPS functions.
