Postal Service may move all to Stamford
The U.S. Postal Service is considering plans to consolidate the Bridgeport Processing and Distribution Facility to save USD 17.7 million over 10 years.
The Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General recently completed an “efficiency review” that found there is a “favorable business case” to transfer incoming mail processing operations from the facility in Bridgeport, Conn., to a larger facility in Stamford, Conn.
Outgoing mail processing was transferred last year to Stamford, but the Postal Service did not move incoming mail processing operations because of concerns that Stamford could not handle the additional volume of work. The recent review found that Stamford could handle the additional load.
The auditors found that Stamford has the capacity to process about 405 million additional letter pieces and could absorb the 242 million pieces of incoming mail that are now processed in Bridgeport.
“This would reduce 53,000 work hours and improve efficiency,” the report said. “Impact on employees would be minimal and delivery service should improve.”
The work hour savings could be accomplished through attrition since a large number of workers at the facilities are reaching retirement age. By the end of fiscal year 2011, there will be 57 of 95 Bridgeport employees and 198 of 446 Stamford employees eligible for retirement, the report said.
Postal Service management indicated in a letter to the auditors last month that they plan to begin the consolidation process in the third quarter.
Timothy C. Haney, acting vice president for the U.S. Postal Service’s Northeast Area, told auditors that they would need to reconfigure the Stamford workroom to accommodate additional equipment needed to process the incoming mail from Bridgeport. The consolidation will require relocating four Delivery Bar Code Sorter machines from Bridgeport to Stamford.
