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Published Thursday, March 26, 2009 in Local
No plans to cut Newnan Post Office hours
By Jeff Bishop
The Newnan Times-Herald
Although the nation's postmaster general, John Potter, told Congress on Wednesday that the post office will run out of money this year unless it gets help, Newnan's local postmaster said that "there are no plans to cut hours at the current time."
Potter is asking Congress for permission to cut delivery to five days a week.
"We are facing losses of historic proportion. Our situation is critical," Potter told a House panel.
But Newnan Officer-in-Charge William W. Pete Bryan said that, at least on a local level, "we are taking things day by day."
The agency lost $2.8 billion last year and is looking at much larger losses this year. Reducing mail delivery from six days to five days a week could save $3.5 billion annually, Potter said.
Bryan said more people are paying their bills online these days, "and advertisers are not using the mail to advertise like they used to" due to the bruising economy.
"We used to have a lot of circulars from department stores, and now we aren't seeing that," said Bryan.
"And people who used to get six to 10 credit card solicitations in the mail, now maybe there's only one," he said.
Bryan said that in 2008, volume declined by 9.5 billion pieces (4.5 percent from the previous year).
"Operations in the Atlanta district mirror the national trend," said Bryan. "Volume was down almost nine percent during the last fiscal year as our community faced its share of economic hard times."
The U.S. Post Office and its local branches will be "making changes to operations, staffing, and facilities to match the drop in volume," although nothing specific has been decided, Bryan said.
"It would be fiscally responsible not to take action," he said.
The post office will work to match work force to work load, he said, by offering early retirements, consolidating processing operations, and suspending construction.
The post office ultimately will be "reorganizing delivery routes, adjusting post office hours, and relocating blue mail boxes from underused to high-volume areas," said Bryan.
"But there are no plans to cut hours at the current time."
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I am a postal worker and the service we give is great. To Scott K, we only deliver to you what has been sent with your name and address on it. If you don't want a bill the pay for whatever you purchased up front and you will not receive a bill. For utilities, have them to come out of your bank account, since you feel the way that you do. To Joe Schmoe, if you drove your letters to the person whom you were sending them to, you would spend way more that $0.42. Getting cards and gifts in the mail is sometimes better than receiving an email. At least you can place the card on a mantle and show it off. Better options in the private sector, GO FOR IT!!! To Mike, the USPS delivers your FedEx, & UPS packages that they've drop off at our office. You guys have no clue about anything. We deliver 303 days and some even spend Sundays and Christmas delivery YOUR special packages to you. To Suzi, there are 10 paid holidays. Thursday, January 1 - New Year's Day Monday, January 19 - Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday Monday, February 16 - Washington's Birthday (President's Day) Monday, May 25 - Memorial Day Saturday, July 4 - Independence Day Monday, September 7 - Labor Day Monday, October 12 - Columbus Day Wednesday, November 11 - Veterans Day Thursday, November 26 - Thanksgiving Day Friday, December 25 - Christmas Day Friday, January 1, 2010 - New Year's Day
Posted by Nicole at 6:50 PM
The doors will be open, but their want be any works.
Posted by David Hayes at 5:16 PM
Mabye if they didnt have all those paid holidays. I mean EVERY holiday they take off the only month they dont have a holiday if September.
Posted by Suzi at 4:22 PM
Incompetence in government-run enterprises is so common it's cliche. However, we've enjoyed a positive history with the Post Office. We've used them for about 15 years to ship art prints. Prices are decent and it has worked for us. Using FedEx & UPS was cost prohibitive. The folks at the downtown Newnan Post Office (Ricky & them) are great and always have been. The staff on Postal Parkway wouldn't move faster if their clothing was on fire. They're typical civil servants. It's frustrating that they don't care to be more efficient but at least they are polite! Like every other business, the USPS can stand to tighten up its operation. I'm sure there's PLENTY of room for that juggernaut to become more efficient. Will it happen? Unlikely unless the military runs it! Now that's a good idea!
Posted by Postal customer at 3:13 PM
The USPS is a gov't owned corporation. They support themselves. As a tax payer, you only pay for them when you use their services. If you don't like them, stop using them. I'll keep on using them due to the cost efficiency alone.
Posted by Matt at 2:26 PM
According to Newnan's Postmaster, the USPS is funded solely by the sale of postal products and services. No tax dollars are used. I, for one, do NOT want to rely on Fed Ex or UPS to deliver my regular mail or my packages. For the most part, they are much more expensive than the USPS. I recently had a small eBay business and found their prices for sending all types of packages to be much better than Fed Ex or UPS. I would never want to see us give up this part of our history.
Posted by Peri Parker at 1:49 PM
I dont still see why we support this snail mail operation with government money? The USPS is useless, and there are better options in the private sector. If there is time for change anywhere, it would be here.
Posted by Joe Schmoe at 12:29 PM
shut it down all we get is bills and junk mail the post office is nothing more than a advertisment agency for corporations that is tax payer funded
Posted by scott k at 10:53 AM
Wow, does this mean that USPS, which has been in business since BEFORE the USA was founded, will actually deliver to MY address? Its been inconsistent for 15 years. I've issued many complaints. Have you ever noticed the fedex box at the post office? Where have you ever seen a competitor so close? Why? Because USPS uses fedex for first class mail instead of the airlines.
Posted by Mike at 10:34 AM
One day = $3.5 billion in savings. If you shut it down completely and let us use fedex and ups for all our mail and packages would save us $21 billion per week. That would be over $1 trillion per year in savings. Enough to pay China some of what we owe them but it would just be wasted in other areas of government spending.
Posted by Dyark at 9:19 AM
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5 day delivery of mail
3/31/2009
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I am a part-time Rural Carrier. This is the only employment that I have. I have been working @ PO for 3 yrs. If this work week gets cut to five days, how am I supposed to make a living? Are they thinking about all of the jobs lost? Or do they even care? Rural Carrier Reliefs need employment just as much as Full-time employees!! Check and see how many part-time employees will lose their jobs and be in the unemployment line!! How is that going to save money? 42 cents for a stamp is nothing compared to the prices of gas! We deliver mail using our vehicles. Our mileage allowance has already been cut 12 cents a mile. Do you know how much wear and tear it puts on our personal vehicles to deliver mail. I truly love my job and can't believe how many people are unappreciative about service that comes straight to your house!!
Posted by Stressed Out! at 1:49 PM