After Postmaster General Louis DeJoy revealed his 10-year-plan, “Delivering for America” in 2021, many labor unions, locals and government officials have been fighting back. They fear for the future of the postal service.
At a recent S&DC Town Hall meeting at Teamster’s Hall in Rock Tavern, many locals, government officials, American Postal Workers Union (APWU) members, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) members, postal workers and more gathered to learn about upcoming changes to the United States Postal Services. This comes in accordance with “Delivering for America,” a 10-year-plan aimed to reduce costs and create financial stability, offer better service and make postal services more modern. According to the United States Postal Service USPS website, “Delivering for America established clear and precise strategies to end years of mounting losses, reverse a projected $160 billion in losses over 10 years and build an operation that is high performing and financially self-sustaining.”
When word got out that the creation of sorting and delivery centers (S&DC) could potentially close local post offices, USPS denied that this was the case.
“As new S&DCs are opened, customers will see no changes to their local Post Office retail operations. No Post Offices will be closed and PO Box delivery will remain unchanged,” stated Mark Lawrence, Strategic Communications Specialist for the United States Postal Service in an email a few months ago to the paper. In a second year project report dated April 2023, the USPS is still sticking to this word.
Under the plan, the General Mail Facility at 97 Enterprise Drive in the Town of Newburgh would become one of those S&DCs. Letter carriers would report there to pick up the mail they would be delivering on their daily route. Postal officials have insisted that other services would still be available at local post offices, including mailing of packages, box rentals and the purchasing of stamps and other postal products.