USPS Announces Plan to Keep Smaller Post Offices Open
(May 9, 2012) -- With postal legislation currently stalled in the United States Congress, the Postal Service announced today a plan to keep many of its smaller post offices open. The links, below, provide additional information regarding this plan (which will soon be presented to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) for its advisory opinion). As part of this effort, nearly twenty-one thousand Postmasters will be offered a financial incentive to either accept retirement or otherwise leave employment with the Postal Service. Through a Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) and Special Incentive, the Service is offering Postmasters a $20,000 buy-out (to be paid in two equal payments of $10,000, at the end of 2012 and 2013). As reported, this VER calls for affected Postmasters to terminate their employment by July 31, 2012.
As reported in earlier updates, the NPMHU continues to discuss with the Postal Service a possible incentive-based VER or “early-out” for Mail Handler bargaining unit members. The NPMHU will provide additional updates on this topic as circumstances warrant.
