The Postal Service has implemented POStPlan at about 11,400 post offices so far.  That leaves approximately 1,630 offices where the window hours have yet to be reduced and the original postmaster is probably still on the job.  You can see a list of these remaining offices here.  (Note that while this list was made using USPS lists, it is not official and contains some errors.)

Many if not most of the postmasters working at these remaining offices will be subject to a Reduction in Force (RIF) on January 9th.  We've heard that about half of them are eligible for retirement.  Many have been hoping that something would happen to prevent the RIF  — like the Postal Service initiating a phased retirement program — but at this point it looks inevitable.

For many postmasters, it will be a very sad day in January when they are forced to leave the Postal Service after years, perhaps decades, of loyal service.  Saying goodbye to the communities they have been serving won't be easy.

There are also thousands of Postmaster Reliefs who have working in POStPlan post offices, and they too may be out of luck and a job as a result of the recent APWU arbitration victory.

As for what will happen to each particular post office and its employees, that’s difficult to say.  Implementing the arbitration decision — with all the agreements about the pecking order and everything else — will probably make the first two years of POStPlan implementation look relatively simple.

This statement on the NAPUS website reviews the situation.  There’s a good Q-and-A on the many issues involved with the changes here, and another fact sheet here.  As these documents show, there are a lot of questions to address.  Things will probably get even more complicated by the fact that management responsibilities and access to information are being transferred from the postmasters' associations to the APWU.

Just to illustrate the kind of problems that will need to be managed, consider lunch breaks. At many POStPlan offices, the Postal Service has set up shifts with a long break in between.  For example, a Level 4 office might be open 9 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m.  (Or as the Postal Service puts it, the office is "open 9 to 5" and "closed for lunch," 11 to 3.)

Sometimes these odd hours were set up to respond to community preferences.  Sometimes they’re the result of the Postal Service’s operational needs.  The problem now is that the long gap between shifts conflicts with the APWU contract, which limits lunch breaks to one hour for NTFT (Non-Traditional Full-Time) workers.  

According to the arbitration decision, Level 4 offices will be staffed by PSE's (Postal Support Employees), and Level 6 offices will be staffed by NTFT employees.  Several hundred of the Level 6 offices have lunch breaks longer than one hour.  (A list is here.) The union and the Postal Service will thus need to work out that issue on top of the many other personnel matters they’re dealing with.

Another question that ought to be explored is how much money POStPlan is going to end up saving.  When POStPlan was introduced back in 2012, it was supposed to save $500 million a year because full-time postmasters earning good salaries would be replaced by part-time workers earning about $11 an hour. 

For various reasons that savings estimate was suspect from the beginning, as discussed in this post, but it definitely needs to be revised now that many offices will soon to be staffed by union workers earning much more than $11/hour. 

At this point, one has to wonder if POStPlan was really worth the cost savings.  Thousands of communities have had their postal services diminished — the post office is only open part of the day, and the staffing has become inconsistent and often inexperienced.  Thousands of postmasters have had their careers ended and their lives upended.  The Postal Service may be saving some money, but is the country really any better off?

You can see a list of the 11,400 offices that have already had their hours reduced under POStPlan here.  It was put together using USPS implementation reports, which you can find here.  (Note that about 130 offices appear twice for various reasons, such as a change in the hours after initial implementation.)  The list of 1,630 offices yet to be implemented was made by comparing this list with the original POStPlan list of 13,000.  For more lists and articles on POStPlan, see this resource page.

(Photo credit: Sign on post office door in Craftsbury Commons, VT)