Bulletin Board

Let it be known that we the undersigned state unequivocally that we are adamantly opposed to the Closure and/or Consolidation of the Salem, Oregon Processing & Distribution Facility mail processing operations with that of Portland’s for the reason(s) as stated forthwith. Moreover, that we fervently object to the reduction in any planned service and delivery standards and/or the elimination of Saturday delivery that would facilitate the consolidation of the mail processing operations as suggested by the Postal Service in their AMP feasibility study.

It is our further contention that the proposed “closure a/o consolidation” of the Salem P&DF and the other five (5) mail processing facilities in Oregon runs counter to the Postal Service’s core mission and may be in violation of the law, specifically Title 39, United States Code.

USC -Title 39: “The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by an Act of Congress, and supported by the people. The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities. The costs of establishing and maintaining the Postal Service shall not be apportioned to impair the overall value of such service to the people.”

We are of the opinion that the Postal Service’s current Retail Access Optimization Initiative and Network Optimization Initiative working in combination and supported by flawed, incomplete and skewed data will all but result in the wholesale dismantling of the USPS infrastructure and the ultimate destruction of the USPS as the viable entity it was intended to be. Closing and/or consolidating nearly 300 mail processing facilities and closing nearly 4,000 post offices is not the way to improve customer service, nor will such actions likely improve brand recognition, improve services, or increase revenue. Quite the contrary, such action will more than likely spell the death knell for the US Postal Service and destroy an American institution.

In reality, the Postal Service has another agenda and it is using their current fiscal deformities as a built-in rationale for imposing drastic changes that do not bear up to scrutiny.

· Closing and/or consolidating these facilities is in large part at the direction of large mailers, who tend to benefit the most at the sacrifice of the general public, small businesses, and non-profits.

· With lowered delivered standards, the proposal actually constitutes a “rate increase” in that to ensure local overnight delivery in the future customers will have to resort to the much costlier, expensive Express Mail rates, or shop competitors.

· Various sundry checks, other types of income, and critical time-sensitive documents will suffer further delays as the current delivery standards are subsequently degraded. Depending on when mail is entered into the mail stream, mail can actually be delayed as many as two to five days; not the one day as asserted by the USPS.

· Mortgage payments, credit card payments, utility bills, and a host of similar such payments can and likely will be subject to further delays, which could result in costly late charges and fees. At some point postal customers will be driven to EFT or on-line banking, thereby depriving the USPS of yet more revenue. How stupid is that?

· Local publications, newspapers, especially weekly papers, periodicals, circulars, election notices, church notices, etc. will be hit hard and many will simply cease to exist.

· Nearly half or more of America’s senior citizens and veterans (including the undersigned) now receive their prescription medicines via USPS mail. With the cessation of Saturday (or any day – pick one) delivery combined with the lowering of delivery standards and the consolidation of vital mail processing operations, many of these folks may not receive their meds in the timely manner heretofore experienced.

· Those states that rely upon “Vote-by-Mail,” such as Oregon and Washington and in particularly the Oregon State Capitol of Salem as served by the Salem P&DF will endure a particular problem whenever election time rolls around. Not to mention the interference with election materials.

· Moreover, not only nationally but locally, the Postal Service has historically served as a gateway to the middle-class for many of Americans, including minorities, women, and tens of thousands of America’s returning war veterans since WW-II. Now the Postal Service wants to trash that social contract without establishing any real actual foundation for doing do. There is absolutely no consideration what financial impact the loss of 78 middle-class jobs will impose on the local Salem economy.

· By introducing their so-called optimization initiatives, the Postal Service has: 1) Failed / Refused to properly notify all the affected stakeholders, communities and members of the public (postal customers) of the proposed changes. 2) Failed / Refused to be honest and transparent in the realities and fact circumstances that have led USPS to its current state of affairs. 3) Woefully failed to make a convincing case that the monies to be “saved” is anywhere close to the actual numbers that will improve the Postal Service’s fiscal bottom line. The data don’t stand muster.

It makes absolutely no good sense, business or otherwise, for any business or corporation, private or public, to embrace a so-called “business model” that undertakes a plan, particularly an optimization initiative, that would intentionally drive business and customers away and further decrease revenue! But that is precisely what the Postal Service is presently engaged in. For lack of better analogy, USPS management is steering the Titanic and has jettisoned the stern (that portion of the ship that drives and powers the vessel) in hopes of saving the bow! What good sense does that strategy serve? In short order the bow will sink along and the whole ship will be lost once you’ve sacrificed the engine that drives the ship.

The financial situation at the USPS, as dire as it may seem, is not permanent. USPS remains a largely viable organization that processes and delivers as much mail now as it did in 1988 (171-billion pieces of mail) with 350,000 fewer employees! USPS had 900,000 employees on the rolls in 1988, charged nearly half as much for 1^st-Class mail, 1/4^th as much for Standard Mail, and paid nearly the same amount for fuel as it does today for vehicles that were not nearly as efficient. USPS also had about 7000-8000 more post offices in 1988. Adjusted for inflation, employee wages are static.

So one might ponder, how can the USPS be losing money?

The “crisis” at USPS has been largely manufactured by both USPS management at the highest levels and certain elements in an ever-interfering Congress. That and one postal management regime after another who have steadfastly held to the philosophy that “US Postal Service management has the right to mismanage!”

1. For at least the past two decades USPS management has afforded ever deepening discounts to mega-large mailers like Time-Warner, Bank of America, ValPack, etc. (the list goes on-and-on) to the detriment of those of us who have steadily picked up the slack by incurring ever increasing 1^st-Class rates. We pay more so big business can pay less. Sound familiar?

2. The 2006 Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act (PA&E), of course, was the real harbinger of the present crisis when that 2006 congressional body saddled USPS with what has to be the dumbest piece of legislation any congress could foment upon the “cash cow” known as the Postal Service. What other government or private sector entity “prefunds” its retiree health benefits 75-years into the future for retirees that won’t even be born until 2037? Much less hired yet and for an institution that many believe won’t even be in existence in 75-years! Consequently, the USPS begins every fiscal year $5.5 billion in the red – right out of the gate.

3. Overpayment of nearly $10.9 billion to the FERS retiree health care benefit system and perhaps as much as $50-75 billion more over-funded to the CSRS retiree system since the 1970’s depending on whose actuarial audit you choose to believe. Given those funds back to the rightful “payee,” the Postal Service would be, in fact, more than able to settle their financial house, pre-fund their retiree health benefits and perhaps even overcome evidences of their own gross mismanagement.

4. By evidence of ever increasing postage rates rather than being creative in both marketing and developing and establishing innovative systems, the Postal Service has driven some of their larger customers – the large discount mailers – to convert to using cheaper standard mail and its lower cost. At the same time, however, these same mailers have been provided 1^st-Class service. Now there’s a deal.

5. To be sure, the Postal Service like everyone else and most businesses was negatively impacted by the effects of the Great Recession. However, rather than deal with it at the time and make an effort to rebound both during the recession and look forward to any positive aspects the economic recovery might provide the Postal Service afterwards, USPS instead persists on “ensuring” itself and everyone (Congress, postal customers, and its stakeholders) there will be no rebound for the Postal Service. So why try? With that mindset, the question is begged, what will the USPS do if and when it is permitted to dismantle its infrastructure and half its processing and retail facilities no longer exist and there is a re-bound? Will they suddenly re-expand, or simply privatize to make up for their own shortsightedness?

Rather than reduce service and eliminate living wage jobs, the Postal Service and Congress should address the core causes of the current problems. Mail service for the American people should be improved, not reduced or suffer any further degradation. Service standards should not be lowered. Perhaps it is “optimal” or ideal that USPS operate similar to a business, but in reality USPS officials need be reminded that the Postal Service is NOT a business. It is a service to the American people and it belongs to the people of the United States. As such, postal employees are servants of the American people and those that administer the Postal Service DO NOT possess a right to mismanage the Postal Service!

A postal system such as the one envisioned by Benjamin Franklin and America’s founding fathers and the postal system that has existed in this Nation for well onto to 236-years is an absolutely necessary infrastructure to a democratic nation. Do not further weaken our country or its economy by permitting the law to be violated and the dismantling of our Postal Service.

Respectfully submitted:

Robert and Debra Patterson

PO Box 12241 (605 Wormwood Street SE 97306)

Salem, OR 97309

503-399-9512

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