MONROE - Thousands of post offices nationwide, including one in Woodford, have a stay of execution.
The U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday that it has agreed to delay the closing or consolidation of any post office or mail processing facility, set to begin in January, until May 15, 2012.
But some local businesses that depend on post offices, even ones that are not closing, are bracing for potential reduced services and added costs.
The Postal Service said it hopes the postponement will "help facilitate the enactment of comprehensive postal legislation" but "given the Postal Service's financial situation and the loss of mail volume, the Postal Service must continue to take all steps necessary to reduce costs and increase revenue."
Those steps include continuing "all necessary steps required for the review of these facilities (scheduled for closure) during the interim period, including public input meetings."
Monroe resident Rob McCarthy of McCarthy Media Group, a direct marketing company in Monroe and Sun Prairie, said he is going to "wait and see what's going to happen."
"Can they actually thrive in the economy?" he asked.
McCarthy said many businesses use direct mail to route customers to their websites, but if the post office reduces delivery days, "it will slow down the responses."
"They haven't dropped the hammer yet," he added, "but cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs and going to five-day delivery, when that hits, that'll hurt the post office in the bottom line."
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
McCarthy Media Group's business focus includes managing both catalog and package inserts, catalog bind-ins, statement stuffers and other cooperative direct mail. McCarthy believes companies that send out catalogs will reduce the number of mailings per year to save costs. McCarthy's company currently sends out 300,000-400,000 resource guides in one mailing, two and three times a year, he added.
Colony Brands, Inc., Monroe, uses the U.S. Postal Service to mail more than 100 million catalogs and many thousands of packages each year.
"Therefore, we monitor all developments regarding USPS very closely," said John Baumann, Colony Brands president. "Aside from adjusting some of the in-home target dates for our catalogs and our daily sales estimates, we do not see having to make any significant changes as to how we do business.
"That said, we are concerned that future cost increases passed on to third class mailers (catalogs) like ourselves could force us to reduce the volume of catalogs we send in the mail each year."
The Postal Service announcement to delay closings comes after 20 Senators signed a letter Dec. 8 asking Congressional leaders to "include language in the next appropriations to prevent the USPS from closing or consolidating area mail processing facilities or rural post offices for the next six months."
The "six-month moratorium will give Congress the time needed to enact reforms necessary for the postal service to succeed in the 21st century," the letter stated.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe released in July a list of nearly 3,700 potential closings in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Donahoe said the closures and other moves, such as a proposal to reduce service to five days a week, are necessary to close a $20 billion gap in revenue by 2015.
In the past four fiscal years, the Postal Service has reduced costs by more than $12 billion and reduced its career workforce by 110,000 employees, but must "significantly accelerate the pace of cost reduction in the next four years," he added.
Donahoe told a Senate committee Sept. 6 that without enactment of legislation by the end of September, the Postal Service faced default, because funds would be insufficient to make a congressionally mandated $5.5 billion payment to pre-fund retiree health benefits.
At that meeting, Donahoe said legislation is needed that would do the following:
n Resolve a unique law requiring the Postal Service to make $5.5 billion annual payments to prefund retirement health benefits.
n Return $6.9 billion in Federal Employees Retirement System overpayments.
n Grant the Postal Service the authority to determine delivery frequency.
n Allow the Postal Service to restructure its healthcare system to make it independent of federal programs.
n Grant the Postal Service the authority to provide a defined contribution retirement plan for new hires, rather than today's defined benefit plan.
n Streamline the process for product development and pricing.
Donahoe also said the size of the Postal Service workforce needs to be addressed. In order to return to profitability, the Postal Service needs to reduce its career workforce by approximately 220,000 by 2015, but cannot do so under the terms of existing collective bargain agreements, he said.
The U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday that it has agreed to delay the closing or consolidation of any post office or mail processing facility, set to begin in January, until May 15, 2012.
But some local businesses that depend on post offices, even ones that are not closing, are bracing for potential reduced services and added costs.
The Postal Service said it hopes the postponement will "help facilitate the enactment of comprehensive postal legislation" but "given the Postal Service's financial situation and the loss of mail volume, the Postal Service must continue to take all steps necessary to reduce costs and increase revenue."
Those steps include continuing "all necessary steps required for the review of these facilities (scheduled for closure) during the interim period, including public input meetings."
Monroe resident Rob McCarthy of McCarthy Media Group, a direct marketing company in Monroe and Sun Prairie, said he is going to "wait and see what's going to happen."
"Can they actually thrive in the economy?" he asked.
McCarthy said many businesses use direct mail to route customers to their websites, but if the post office reduces delivery days, "it will slow down the responses."
"They haven't dropped the hammer yet," he added, "but cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs and going to five-day delivery, when that hits, that'll hurt the post office in the bottom line."
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
McCarthy Media Group's business focus includes managing both catalog and package inserts, catalog bind-ins, statement stuffers and other cooperative direct mail. McCarthy believes companies that send out catalogs will reduce the number of mailings per year to save costs. McCarthy's company currently sends out 300,000-400,000 resource guides in one mailing, two and three times a year, he added.
Colony Brands, Inc., Monroe, uses the U.S. Postal Service to mail more than 100 million catalogs and many thousands of packages each year.
"Therefore, we monitor all developments regarding USPS very closely," said John Baumann, Colony Brands president. "Aside from adjusting some of the in-home target dates for our catalogs and our daily sales estimates, we do not see having to make any significant changes as to how we do business.
"That said, we are concerned that future cost increases passed on to third class mailers (catalogs) like ourselves could force us to reduce the volume of catalogs we send in the mail each year."
The Postal Service announcement to delay closings comes after 20 Senators signed a letter Dec. 8 asking Congressional leaders to "include language in the next appropriations to prevent the USPS from closing or consolidating area mail processing facilities or rural post offices for the next six months."
The "six-month moratorium will give Congress the time needed to enact reforms necessary for the postal service to succeed in the 21st century," the letter stated.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe released in July a list of nearly 3,700 potential closings in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Donahoe said the closures and other moves, such as a proposal to reduce service to five days a week, are necessary to close a $20 billion gap in revenue by 2015.
In the past four fiscal years, the Postal Service has reduced costs by more than $12 billion and reduced its career workforce by 110,000 employees, but must "significantly accelerate the pace of cost reduction in the next four years," he added.
Donahoe told a Senate committee Sept. 6 that without enactment of legislation by the end of September, the Postal Service faced default, because funds would be insufficient to make a congressionally mandated $5.5 billion payment to pre-fund retiree health benefits.
At that meeting, Donahoe said legislation is needed that would do the following:
n Resolve a unique law requiring the Postal Service to make $5.5 billion annual payments to prefund retirement health benefits.
n Return $6.9 billion in Federal Employees Retirement System overpayments.
n Grant the Postal Service the authority to determine delivery frequency.
n Allow the Postal Service to restructure its healthcare system to make it independent of federal programs.
n Grant the Postal Service the authority to provide a defined contribution retirement plan for new hires, rather than today's defined benefit plan.
n Streamline the process for product development and pricing.
Donahoe also said the size of the Postal Service workforce needs to be addressed. In order to return to profitability, the Postal Service needs to reduce its career workforce by approximately 220,000 by 2015, but cannot do so under the terms of existing collective bargain agreements, he said.