Communities Protest USPS Service Reductions in Martinsburg, WV and Western Maryland - SAVE YOUR POST OFFICE
Thomas Dodge
PRESS RELEASE - March 14, 2013
Community and Postal Workers United
www.cpwunited.com
For more Information:
Cumberland, MD - Phil Jones - ( 301 ) 724-6474
Martinsburg, WV -
Allison Ryan – ( 304 ) 261-8354
Baltimore, MD
- Tom Dodge - cell ( 410 )-236-2300, home ( 410 ) 857-9405
Community & Postal Workers United Protest March & Rally
Sunday March 17th, 2:00 pm
St Patty’s Day, 43rd Anniversary - Great Postal Strike of 1970
Starting at Ryan’s, 925 Foxcroft Ave, Martinsburg, WV
“When the post office is closed, the flag comes down. When the human side of government closes its doors, we’re all in trouble.” Jennings Randolph, U.S. Senator from West Virginia, 1958-85
Elimination of Saturday delivery would not only harm the Postal Service, but small businesses, rural communities, the elderly, and the disabled. This misguided and counterproductive decision is in keeping with the Postmaster General's slash-and-shrink approach to dealing with the Postal Service's financial challenges. Instead of offering a real business plan to tap the full potential of this essential American institution, he is offering a plan that will doom USPS to failure.
Area Post Offices reducing hours: ( previously open 8 hrs per day )
CHEWSVILLE PO MD, 21721 .- open 4 hours per day
OLDTOWN PO MD, 21555 - open 4 hours per day
SPRING GAP PO MD, 21560 - open 2 hours per day.
CAVETOWN PO MD, 21720 . - open 4 hours per day
LITTLE ORLEANS PO MD, 21766 .- open 4 hours per day
ELLERSLIE PO MD, 21529 - open 6 hours per day
MOUNT SAVAGE PO MD, 21545 - open 6 hours per day
BROWNSVILLE PO MD, 21715 - open 2 hours per day.
RIPPON PO WV, 25441 .- open 4 hours per day
HALLTOWN PO WV, 25423 . . . . . .- open 4 hours per day
GREAT CACAPON PO WV, 25422 - open 6 hours per day
WILEY FORD PO WV, 26767 .- open 4 hours per day
GERRARDSTOWN PO WV, 25420 - open 6 hours per day
Martinsburg, WV and Cumberland, MD mail sorted in Baltimore, MD
In January 2013, USPS announced a list of 81 Mail Processing Plants to be consolidated by July 31st, 2013. The USPS Board of Governors has pressured Post Master General Patrick R.Donahoe to speed up the consolidations, resulting in 18 more Processing Plants added to the list, for a total of 99 Mail Processing Plants.
Martinsburg,
WV
and Cumberland,
MD
are to be closed and mail trucked to and sorted at Baltimore,
MD.
Last Year Winchester,
VA Mail Sorting was closed, leaving no Mail Sorting Facilities in Western
MD, or in the Tri-State Area More than half the nationwide network of Processing and Distribution Centers will be eliminated..
Mail from Cumberland will shipped 136 miles to Baltimore, MD & then shipped 136 miles back, 272 miles
round trip, to send a letter across the street.
Mail from Martinsburg will shipped 90 miles to Baltimore, MD & then shipped 90 miles back, 180 miles
round trip, to send a letter across the street.
Closing these sorting facilities makes as much sense
as a McDonald's in Cumberland sending their raw hamburger to Baltimore, to be
cooked, then shipped back to Cumberland to eaten by their customers. Very Inefficient. It doesn't make sense !
Mail sorted locally, can be delivered the same or next day. Mail shipped to Baltimore will be delayed by one or more days, maybe
even weeks.
Evidence of Delay of Mail and Decreased Service
Frederick, MD P & D.C. was consolidated into Baltimore, MD P & D.C. November, 2011, just prior to Christmas and resulted in “ SEVERE DELAY of MAIL “, with 1,000’s of customers receiving their Christmas cards & presents weeks late.
“ Delayed mail occurred despite sufficient floor space and machine capacity at the Baltimore P&DC. delayed mail increased from 2,814,610 pieces in October 2010 to 5,221,092 pieces in October 2011, an increase of nearly 200 percent. “.
An investigation was requested by West Virginia Congresswoman Shelly Moore Capito
Office of the Inspector General : Report Number NO-AR-12-006
http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/NO-AR-12-006.pdf
More information about Delay of Mail can be found here: http://cpwunited.com/delay-of-mail-2
Not the internet,
Not the recession,
Not private competition,
Congress is killing the postal service !
A 2006 Congressional mandate which forces the USPS to prefund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance, is sending the service into a death spiral. 10% of the postal budget, $5.5 billion per year goes to prefund benefits for people who aren’t even born yet.
Not only would the Postal Service have been profitable without the mandate, the USPS has also over paid tens of billions into
two pension funds. The Postmaster General’s response is to speed the death spiral by pushing forward massive cuts to service and closures of facilities.
Not only
would the postal service have been profitable without the mandate, say community
activists, the USPS has also overpaid tens of billions into two pension funds. 2 independent audits show $ 50-75 Billion in surplus.
“Not
the internet, not private competition, not the recession – Congress is
responsible for the postal mess” said, Katheryn
Davis a postal worker from Martinsburg,
WV. “Corporate interests,
working through their friends in Congress, want to bankrupt the USPS, so the
assets can be sold off for pennies on the dollar, then
privatize it.”
Currently competition from the Postal Service ( as a non profit entity ) is the only thing keeping prices on shipping packages & parcels down. Lack of competition will allow UPS and FedEx to charge much higher prices and decrease service, as much as the market will bare, and will hurt the profit margin of businesses that ship, also hurting the pocket book of the American Consumer. PRIVATIZATION OF THE POST OFFICE WILL DECREASE SERVICE AND INCREASE COST.
“We will not stand by as our the postal service is destroyed,” said Steve Bruns, a community activist and retired postal worker from Frederick, MD. “We will shame Congress and denounce the Postmaster General. We will engage in dramatic actions on Capitol Hill and at the USPS Headquarters to turn up the heat on decision makers.”
Tens of thousands of jobs are being eliminated and delivery standards relaxed. Citizens of the community are calling on Post Master General Patrick R. Donahoe to suspend cuts and closures and allow Congress to fix the finances by repealing the prefunding mandate and refunding the pension surplus.
Local and National protest actions are being organized by Communities and Postal Workers United, a national grassroots network.
