USPS Plans 27,000 Job Cuts as Plants Shut [View all]

[IDemo]

By Angela Greiling Keane - Feb 23, 2012 9:37 AM MT

The U.S. Postal Service, which predicts an annual loss of $18.2 billion by 2015, plans to eliminate 4.9 percent of its workforce by closing almost half of its mail-processing facilities to cut costs.

The service plans to shut 223 of its 457 mail-processing plants by February 2013, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a telephone interview today. The Postal Service will cut about 27,000 jobs through attrition, he said.

The closings will save the Washington-based service about $2.5 billion a year, Donahoe said. In September, the agency said it was seeking to save $3 billion a year by closing 252 plants and cutting 35,000 jobs.

Shutting mail-processing facilities is part of a plan to consolidate work and slow mail delivery to save money. The service, which is seeking to end Saturday mail delivery, posted a loss of $3.3 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-23/u-s-postal-service-to-cut-4-9-of-jobs-by-closing-almost-half-of-plants.html