National Newspaper Association President Reed Anfinson on Dec. 14 applauded a decision by the U.S. Postal Service to put off the closings of mail sorting plants and post offices until May 15, 2012, while Congress works on sweeping postal reform legislation. “NNA is deeply concerned about the effects on newspaper delivery from the planned closings,” Anfinson said. “Because the targeted plants have been primarily in smaller communities, our 2,300 community newspaper members have been alarmed at the prospect of much longer highway trips for our mail, and thus slower delivery. Our Postal Committee has been consulting USPS on the details and anticipated effects since late last summer.”
Max Heath, NNA Postal Committee chair, had labeled the Postal Service’s plans to close many plants in smaller communities as “Postal-geddon.”
“I appreciate the financial challenges facing the Postal Service and agree it has excess capacity in its service network,” Heath said. “But I also believe that decisions to close smaller and more efficient plants with the goal of sweeping more mail into large urban facilities that have been the source of many service snarls in the past will turn out to be a mistake. We had already begun working with USPS on setting up transfer hubs in these smaller plant locations to try to divert some of our mail directly to local post offices within a plant’s service zone. Now, this delay gives me hope that we will have time to help USPS craft solutions that will minimize disruption.”
He said he believed many of the plants on the target list would still be closed, just later than anticipated.
“But every day a plant remains open is another day we have to persuade Congress of the value of universal service, particularly in small town and rural America, and to look for answers that keep USPS alive without demolishing newspaper mail,” Heath said. “Particularly in a world where personal letters and even credit card bills become rarer inhabitants of the mailbox, people will still be drawn to the mail if their local newspapers are in it.”
USPS said it would continue to hold community meetings on the closing of the targeted plants as it analyzes whether each plant’s closing is the right decision.
The plant closing is solely within the Postal Service’s discretion. A letter from 30 Democratic senators, who are seeking a six-month delay in the closings, precipitated today’s announcement. The senators asked for time for Congress to consider postal reform legislation, including S1789 now pending in the Senate.
The Postal Regulatory Commission is considering the USPS request for an advisory opinion on downgrading First-Class and Periodicals service by one day. (The service change is not expected to affect newspaper mail entered directly in a local post office.) Anfinson said NNA would represent community newspapers in the proceeding.