Pictured Above: The U.S. Postal Service holds a Town Hall-style meeting in the Common Council Chambers inside Buffalo's City Hall in order to gather public in-put on a plan to cut mail delivery service from six to five days.  Local National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)/Branch 3 Representatives spoke at the hearing, saying the proposal would hurt small businesses who rely on Saturday delivery - as well as the elderly who await mail delivery of their prescription drugs.  (WNYLaborToday.com Photo)

(BUFFALO) - In one of only seven such hearings held across the United States, Western New Yorkers are expected to come out and speak their minds today in Downtown Buffalo about the U.S. Postal Service's proposal to cut weekly mail service delivery from six to five days.

The movement to go to a shortened delivery schedule does not appear to have gained any momentum whatsoever in the U.S. Congress - an act from which is needed to make the change - according to Buffalo-headquartered National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)/Branch 3, which represents 1,500 Western New York mail carriers that deliver mail from Niagara County down to the New York-Pennsylvania State Line.

"We don't think this will move forward," NALC/Branch 3 President Robert McLennan - who will be one of the speakers at today's hearing - tells WNYLaborToday.com.  The 1 p.m. Town Hall-style meeting with be held within the Common Council Chambers at Buffalo's City Hall. 

"While the feedback (from across the country) has been anecdotal, what we've been getting is the public thinks it's a bad idea.  (The) CVS (retail drug store chain) has come out against it - nationwide.   It would hurt a number of people, such as seniors waiting for delivery of their medical prescriptions, and businesses, including small businesses, who - for example - may be waiting for a check to arrive.  We feel Congress won't support it.  In fact, with what's being discussed, it makes more sense to go to a seven-day delivery schedule," McLennan said.

Similar public hearings have been held in a number of U.S. Cities, including Dallas, Chicago, Las Vegas, Memphis, Sacramento and Rapid City, South Dakota.  Buffalo - which is the smallest of the involved cities - is the last stop on the public hearing circuit, McLennan said.

The cutback would also impact the Letters Carriers Union workforce.  If approved, 40,000 jobs would be lost nationwide - including 300 across NALC/Branch 3.

So why is there push to cut back on mail delivery? 

According to NALC, the United States Postal Office Inspector General says that over the past three years, the Office of Personnel Management badly miscalculated the postal surplus in the Civil Service Retirement Fund.  An investigative research unit report shows the USPS was overcharged an astounding $75 billion for pension liabilities that should have been paid for by the U.S. Treasury, since they relate to service performed before USPS was created in 1971. This means the onerous pre-funding schedule included in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act is grossly inflated, since OPM shortchanged the Postal Service Retiree Health Fund in 2007, when the agency transferred the surplus into the fund, according to information posted on the NALC website.

In April, USPS Inspector General David Williams was quoted by The Federal Times as saying:  "The Postal Service has been overcharged $75 billion for its pension obligations.  Fixing these overcharges will allow the Postal Service to address its real challenges and implement its plan at a safer pace.  The Postal Service and its employees deserve justice in this matter and the ability to fix the real problems."

Postmaster General Jack Potter, meanwhile, had acknowledged as much at a March 18th hearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. "If that [recovering the $75 billion and applying it to future retiree health care] were to happen," he said, "we wouldn't have to go to five-day delivery." 

Federal Law mandates the provision of these benefits "even if the Postal Service's retiree health fund had no assets," NALC officials say. The retiree health fund is designed to make sure that postage ratepayers reimburse the U.S. Treasury for future health benefits, but USPS is being massively overcharged for these costs and there are excess postal pension assets in the civil service retirement fund that should be used to cover retiree health costs in the future, Union officials add.  The reforms supported by NALC are believed by the Union to save the Postal Service billions and protect every postal employee's retiree health benefits.

NALC is also disputing a figure of $3 billion the Postmaster General says could be saved by going to a five-day delivery schedule.  However, McLennan says NALC is not opposed to working with the Postmaster General and his administration to bargain work changes that would bring about cost-savings.

NALC, meanwhile, cities five reasons why the five-day delivery schedule should be opposed:

• It's penny-wise and pound foolish - Saturday delivery is the Postal Service's key strategic advantage over its private competitors, UPS and FedEx.  Giving away its most important comparative advantage in the one area of the postal market that is likely to grow when the economy recovers - e-commerce package delivery - would be very risky.  Over time, the loss of revenue would outweigh the short-term savings.

• It will drive customers away - Slower service, letters mailed on Friday nights would not be picked up until Monday morning or Monday afternoon, and less frequent delivery is likely to accelerate the shift to electronic invoicing and electronic bill paying.  Booming businesses like mail order prescriptions would be threatened.  Reduced service would also threaten one of the fastest-growing segments of the mail - Parcel Select - as UPS, FedEx and other consolidators would reconsider their use of last-mile delivery services by USPS letter carriers.

• It would prompt the emergence of new competitors - If the Postal Service doesn't deliver on Saturdays, other companies will step in to fill the void.  Within days of the Postal Service's March 2nd announcement, multiple press accounts quoted executives from niche delivery firms welcoming the news.  Many companies would view the Postal Service's exit from Saturday delivery as a business opportunity.  Once established, competitors will demand a "level playing field" and ask Congress to open the Nation's mailboxes to their services, making it impossible to enforce the monopoly and maintain affordable universal service.
• It would set a bad precedent - If the language requiring six-day delivery were repealed, there would be no legal barrier to prevent the Postal Service from reducing delivery days further, from five-day to four-or-three-day delivery.  Business Week magazine called on the Postal Service to shift immediately to three-day delivery within days of the Postal Service's announcement of its action plan.  That would not only destroy half the department's workforce, but also likely lead to a death spiral for the Postal Service - less service leading to less mail volume leading to less service, and so on.

• It's not necessary - The Postal Service has hidden financial strengths, with fully-funded pension plans.  If the accounting is done properly, retiree health benefits can be fully-funded.  If Congress and the Postal Administration can be convinced to fairly allocate pension costs and correct the $75 billion error made by the OPM when it established its retiree health fund, eliminating Saturday delivery would not be necessary.

After today's hearing, U.S. citizens still have time to voice their opinion on the mail delivery proposal.  NALC/Branch 3 President McLennan - who is encouraging all to do so - tells WNYLaborToday.com anyone can go on-line and visit www.prc.gov and weigh in with their opinion right up until an October 12th deadline.