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Postal Service Delays Common at Local Branches

September 17th, 2013 by WCBC Radio

If it seems you're waiting longer at the post office these days, it's probably not your imagination. A wave of early retirements this year has many branches across the country makng do with fewer clerks. The staff reductions are part of the U.S. Postal Service's years long effort to stop hemorrhaging money and return to profitability.  The Postal Service lost nearly $16 billion in fiscal 2012, and its last profitable fiscal year was 2008. The financial slide began with the rise of email and online bill paying and was worsened by the recession. First-class mail — traditional letters and bills — has the highest profit margin for the Postal Service. First-class-mail volume fell 25 percent from 2007 to 2012. And though the volume of packages has increased during that time, the profit margins on parcels are too low to make up the difference.  Locally, delays have been routine at the main post office branch on Park Street. WCBC’s “Dave Norman Show” was a forum for the issue recently with office manager Michelle Turner describing the recent delays…





 

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