The Postal Service will soon accept early retirements from non-union postal employees as the organization shifts its policy. The agency also announced Friday that it has put a freeze on hiring management positions. USPS reported continued financial losses for the third quarter of 2020, with the Postmaster General announcing in the first week of August that the agency plans to make changes to its organizational structure in order to reduce costs.
“This organizational change will capture operating efficiencies by providing clarity and economies of scale that will allow us to reduce our cost base and capture new revenue,” said CEO Louis DeJoy and Postmaster General in a news release this month.
The Postal Service says these new structural updates will not lead to a reduction in output or workforce, and that “there are no immediate impacts to USPS employees,” but the agency will request Voluntary Early Retirement Authority from the Office of Personnel Management for employees not represented by a collective bargaining agreement. This shift in policy allows an agency to temporarily lower the age and years of service requirements for retirement, with the intent of urging more employees that are on the brink of retirement to make that transition.
Multiple postal unions represent the large majority of the Postal Service’s workforce that ranges over 600,000 employees, but about 50,000 postal employees do not belong to any union and are therefore not covered by any form of a collective bargaining agreement.
In spite of revenue for the first three quarters of 2020 being $553 million greater than for the same period in 2019, the agency continues to report significant losses ranging around $2.2 billion in the third quarter of this year.
“The strong growth of our package volume in the third quarter was encouraging, but there is great uncertainty about whether that growth will be sustainable,” said USPS Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett in a news release.
The Postal Service continues to struggle and adapt during these difficult times. Uncertainty in the organization’s future is concerning for its employees and Americans alike, below is a link sharing small but impactful ways to help USPS survive:
