The Postal Service has announced an agreement with two large postal unions to offer buyouts to employees they represent in a bid to save up to $500 million in labor-related costs.
As many as 30,000 employees, mostly in mail processing facilities and represented by the American Postal Workers Union or the National Postal Mail Handlers Union could be offered $15,000 buyouts — of $10,000, to be paid during the first three months of fiscal 2010, followed by a $5,000 payment in fiscal 2011.
According to USPS, more efficient mail processing technology and a drop in volume have led to a need “to more aggressively match work hours with work load.”
Still, the Postal Service expects to deliver 170 billion pieces of mail in 2009.
Carriers in the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association were not extended the offer because while volume is down, the number of addresses in the US still grows by 1.5 million each year and the work load for employees in those unions is expected to remain more stable.
