After agonizing about what I can say without causing myself a problem at my job, I have decided to do this diary. I want to preface this by making it clear that I am in no way speaking for the Postal Service. This is just my opinion based on the facts at hand.
Does anyone on this site live in the following areas?
Flushing NY, Jamaica NY, Long Island City NY, Floral Park NY, Elmont NY, Franklin Square NY, Great Neck NY, Manhasset NY, New Hyde Park NY, Port Washington NY
If the postal powers that be have their way your mail delivery is about to change. The Queens processing facility which handles mail processing for the areas stated above is in danger of being closed.
Written comments need to be sent to the following address as soon as possible and postmarked no later than Dec 19th.
Manager, Consumer and Industry
Triboro District
1050 Forbell St
Brooklyn NY 11256-9621
If the top brass in the USPS have their way mail delivery in Queens is going to get worse. As a matter of fact, not only Queens will be affected but all five boroughs of NYC.
Even if you don't live in NYC this will affect you as well. The news media is finally reporting the possible coming changes to the service standards for First Class mail. They are also finally reporting the plans for reducing the amount of processing plants around the country.
If they succeed in their plans to close a mail processing plant that serves over 2.3 million people in Queens and the zip code areas that begin with the numbers 110, then no plant in the country is safe. All of the smaller less populated areas in the country will be decimated.
It seems to me that the Postal execs have been less than forthcoming or honest about what they are doing.
There was a public meeting at Bayside HS on Dec 2nd and most of the people who came were postal workers. The few politicians in our area who came made comments about the fact that they were notified at the last minute. They also pointed out that most of the politicians on the local, state and federal level had either not known about the meeting at all or were told at a point in time when they would have been unable to attend or send a representative. They even raised the point that the comment period is far too short. Most state and local comment periods are for at least 60 days yet the comment period for this issue is only about two weeks long.
There is also the fact that the meeting was held on a Friday evening which is the beginning of the Sabbath for observant Jews. Considering the large population of observant Jews in Queens, the fact that the meeting was scheduled for this date was, in my opinion, a slap in the face to them.
All of this leads me to believe that the top brass of the USPS is trying to avoid a large public outcry.
Here is a point of information. If the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens were cities they would be the third and fourth largest cities in the US. I'm talking populations of just over 2.5 and 2.3 million respectively.
As I said earlier in this diary, if the Postal Service execs can succeed in doing this, there is no plant in the country that is safe. Queens mail is supposed to now be sent to Brooklyn to be processed and Brooklyn's mail will be processed in Manhattan. They still aren't sure where they will send the 110 zip code mail to be processed.
They say they are doing this for financial reasons but I just don't see how increasing the distance it takes to get the mail to the various towns in Queens by sending it from Brooklyn is cost effective. The plan they want to implement involves funneling the trucks through the fourth most congested corridor in the US: The Van Wyck Expressway. No one in their right mind uses that highway if they can avoid it yet we are being told that their plan hinges on doing that. The distance is short but the congestion makes it equivalent to a much, much longer ride. This highway is crowded at all times, 24/7.
The Queens plant is optimally located for delivery throughout Queens whereas the Brooklyn plant has only one truck highway that is close to them: the Van Wyck Expressway. Even getting the Brooklyn mail from Manhattan back to the Brooklyn plant for distribution would entail using the Van Wyck Expressway as the main path.
All of this can't be done without reducing the delivery standards for First Class mail.
Of course that is what they want. First Class mail will no longer be one to three days. It will now be two to three days. Forget about mailing a letter in the morning in one part of Queens and having it delivered to another part of Queens the next day. That will be over if they succeed in implementing this plan.
If they are determined to do this, let's at least make them aware that the people who live in the areas served by the Queens processing are watching. Don't let them do this without a fight.
**
I am also asking the people who live in these areas to immediately call or email their congressional representatives in the House and both Senators.
Don't forget about your state and local politicians. Contact them too!
If you live in one of these areas, tell all your neighbors. Make flyers and pass them out if you can or send emails. I have checked out some of the past consolidations at the USPS public website, http://about.usps.com/... and found that most of the public meeting notes show only a few comments at the various meetings around the country and a relatively low number of mailed in comments.
I am hoping that if we can at least make them aware that they are being watched and the majority of the people are not happy with this, we may be able to at least delay it until Congress manages to pass something that deals with the actual reason for the USPS' financial woes.
Remember, it is not strictly because of the decline in first class mail. The problem is the 2006 law that was passed as the Republicans were going out of power. This act put financial burdens on the Postal Service concerning prefunding of the retirement plans that no other corporation in the US has to do. Insuring that the retirement funds are funded for the next 75 years and asking that the USPS succeed in doing this in a 10 year time period is ludicrous.
The Postal Service has overpaid into these plans but is now being offered only the smallest amount back in the current House bill that is on the table. Even worse, our current Postmaster General Donahoe is no longer pressing Congress for the return of the overpayment. He is asking them to let the USPS have the freedom to make whatever changes they want with no real regard to public service. This is a man who gets a salary of $270,000+.
This is wrong. Would you be happy if you overpaid for something and were told that you could have 25% of the overpayment back? No one in their right mind would want that and yet that is what one of the bills out there currently offers.
Please stand up and fight. If you live in an area that is going to be affected and your public meeting is still due to occur, try to get as many people as you can to go. If they can't go, then they need to write to the address for your area.
While House bill H 2309 is a disaster if H 1351 were honestly considered it would help fix the probelm. The proposed Senate bill S 1853 is also worth supporting. Call your Representatives and Senators and ask them to support these bills.
Finally, I know that President Obama has signed at least one Executive Order deferring the payment that the USPS is supposed to make to the retirement funds. Considering what is at stake and the fact that we have a Republican led House that is determined to destroy the Postal Service, I believe that if President Obama has the power to do so, he should sign an Executive Order barring the Postal Service from making these changes until legislation can be passed to help them. I don't know if he has the power to do this but if so, it needs to be done. If not there is another solution; fire Donahoe!
The link to this article tells it all. http://thehill.com/...
People's jobs are on the line here. People's ability to get their medications in a timely fashion without being forced to pay Express Mail prices is at stake. People's ability to know that if they mail a check to pay a bill, it will get there in a timely fashion is at stake.
Don't let this go down without a fight!
For updates on the USPS situation, I have found this site to be helpful:
http://www.postalreporternews.net/
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