US Postal Service Will Shut Down More Than 2000 Retail Branches This Year

A typical USPS contractor semi truck

(This is the author's first post after a short business trip to Korea early this year)

Do you work for the US Postal Service? Well, there is a little problem here.

The US Postal Service plans to shut down more than 2000 postal retail branches and stations this year to minimize an already bleeding financial and fiscal status of the nation's premiere postal service. No, the USPS is not closing any of the bigger post offices but branches that are smaller than post offices such as locations that do not have process mails and where no mail carriers no longer exist.

Aside from economic situation as a main reason for closures, USPS is facing direct competition with internet services such as e-mail, voice, and print messages which have been constantly changing the mail services landscape for the last 15 years.

Closures of thousands of branches mean one thing: unemployment for postal employees and mail contractors in all areas of operations which include but not limited to technical, clerical, maintenance, mail delivery services, and contractors. As of last year, USPS has an estimated 583,908 employees in the country with a net income of negative US$8.51 Billion.

USPS headquarters at L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C.

So, for those of you who work for USPS and who think that your local USPS branch is facing a closure notice pretty soon, do not be surprised when your post office HR will talk to you about your employment status with the agency anytime this year. Start mailing out resumes now before USPS mails you out, if you know what I mean.