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A paper sign at the Pittsburg Post Office informs local residents that the local drop box it hangs beneath will cease to exist later this month.
As of Oct. 24, all outgoing mail will be deposited into the same bin, regardless of where it's ultimately headed. The decision to eliminate the local drop box comes at a time when most outgoing mail is now being sent to Kansas City, Mo., for sorting instead of being sorted either in Pittsburg or in Fort Scott.
According to Richard Watkins, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service's Mid-America district, the change in mail processing is a way of utilizing the "state-of-the-art mail process" system in Kansas City. However, he added that the change is also the result of lagging revenue in these tough economic times.
"Mail volume is down 5.5 percent nationwide," Watkins said. "When that mail volume drops, our revenue drops correspondingly. So we need to find ways to become more efficient, which is not unusual in these days of pretty tough economic times."
In the new system, all outgoing mail in Pittsburg will be consolidated with outgoing mail in Fort Scott and all of that mail will be sent to Kansas City for sorting. As long as everything works as planned, the mail should be processed and returned to the local areas within 24 hours.
"We expect the change to be transparent to the customer," Watkins said. "The customer should not see a delay in mail turnaround."
Robert Vacca, postmaster at the Fort Scott post office, said the change has, thus far, not had a negative impact on mail delivery time.
"We have an instrument that is able to track turnaround time and so far, everything has been going real well," Vacca said. "Every now and then we'll throw what we call test letters into the mail and use them to track the time it takes to be processed and returned to the area. So far, all of the testing has been pretty consistent."
Bob Beasley, postmaster at Pittsburg’s post office, said the new system should help increase the percentage of mail that is sorted in delivery sequence.
"Right now we average about 60 to 70 percent of our mail that is sorted in delivery sequence," he said. "Our goal is to get that up to 80 or 90 percent, and I think we may be able to reach that."
The mail processing change may also mean some personnel changes. Watkins said by sending all outgoing mail to Kansas City, some postal employees in the local area may have hours cut or they may be moved into a different position. However, no employees will involuntarily lose their jobs due to a no-layoff clause in the labor agreement between the U.S. Postal Service and its various labor unions.
Beasley said there have been no personnel changes yet in Pittsburg and it is not clear how the processing change will affect his staff.
"To be quite honest, we don't know yet for sure what's going to happen," he said. "I don't know how it will affect personnel in this office."
Beasley said he is anxious to see how the new system plays out.
"If everything goes as planned, it will be really good," he said. "But I'm sure if it doesn't, they'll have a plan B in place."
Despite the change, Watkins said a local postmark may be obtained upon request.
A paper sign at the Pittsburg Post Office informs local residents that the local drop box it hangs beneath will cease to exist later this month.
As of Oct. 24, all outgoing mail will be deposited into the same bin, regardless of where it's ultimately headed. The decision to eliminate the local drop box comes at a time when most outgoing mail is now being sent to Kansas City, Mo., for sorting instead of being sorted either in Pittsburg or in Fort Scott.
According to Richard Watkins, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service's Mid-America district, the change in mail processing is a way of utilizing the "state-of-the-art mail process" system in Kansas City. However, he added that the change is also the result of lagging revenue in these tough economic times.
"Mail volume is down 5.5 percent nationwide," Watkins said. "When that mail volume drops, our revenue drops correspondingly. So we need to find ways to become more efficient, which is not unusual in these days of pretty tough economic times."
In the new system, all outgoing mail in Pittsburg will be consolidated with outgoing mail in Fort Scott and all of that mail will be sent to Kansas City for sorting. As long as everything works as planned, the mail should be processed and returned to the local areas within 24 hours.
"We expect the change to be transparent to the customer," Watkins said. "The customer should not see a delay in mail turnaround."
Robert Vacca, postmaster at the Fort Scott post office, said the change has, thus far, not had a negative impact on mail delivery time.
"We have an instrument that is able to track turnaround time and so far, everything has been going real well," Vacca said. "Every now and then we'll throw what we call test letters into the mail and use them to track the time it takes to be processed and returned to the area. So far, all of the testing has been pretty consistent."
Bob Beasley, postmaster at Pittsburg’s post office, said the new system should help increase the percentage of mail that is sorted in delivery sequence.
"Right now we average about 60 to 70 percent of our mail that is sorted in delivery sequence," he said. "Our goal is to get that up to 80 or 90 percent, and I think we may be able to reach that."
The mail processing change may also mean some personnel changes. Watkins said by sending all outgoing mail to Kansas City, some postal employees in the local area may have hours cut or they may be moved into a different position. However, no employees will involuntarily lose their jobs due to a no-layoff clause in the labor agreement between the U.S. Postal Service and its various labor unions.
Beasley said there have been no personnel changes yet in Pittsburg and it is not clear how the processing change will affect his staff.
"To be quite honest, we don't know yet for sure what's going to happen," he said. "I don't know how it will affect personnel in this office."
Beasley said he is anxious to see how the new system plays out.
"If everything goes as planned, it will be really good," he said. "But I'm sure if it doesn't, they'll have a plan B in place."
Despite the change, Watkins said a local postmark may be obtained upon request.
