By Paul Tuthill
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-996090.mp3
Springfield, MA – The United States Postal Service , Monday, announced planned changes to its delivery standards. First class mail will move more slowly as a result of the cash strapped agency's decision to close hundreds of mail sorting centers, including one in Springfield Massachusetts.. WAMC"s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.
The US Postal Service, which has seen first class mail volume fall 25 percent since 2007, will make changes by spring that will all but eliminate next day delivery of stamped correspondence. The reduced delivery standard is a result of the decision to close half the roughly 500 mail sorting centers in the country. The cuts will save 3 billion dollars, according to Christine Dugas, the spokesperson for the Connecticut Valley District of the US Postal Service.
Current standards call for delivering first class mail in one to three days. Over 42 percent of first class mail is delivered the day after it is sent. But when roughly 250 processing centers close , the distance the mail travels between post offices will increase, so more than half of first class mail will have a two day delivery expectation, and most of the rest three days.
A sample of customers at the main post office in Springfield Massachusetts brought a mixed reaction to the service cutbacks.
The postal service announced in September it was looking into closing processing centers. The plan elicited more than four thousand public comments, mostly in opposition , according to the Associated Press.
Springfield City Coucilor Kateri Walsh introduced a resolution that was passed unanimously calling on the postal service to scrap the plan.
Closing the processing centers will cut thousands of jobs. Michael Harazmus, president of branch 46 of the National Association of Letter Carriers , says cutting service is no way to build a business.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says he has a game plan to cut the postal service's annual expenses by 20 billion dollars by 2015. It includes closing 37 hundred local post offices and cutting mail delivery from six days a week to five..