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As mail dwindles, so will staff
By MELANIE AVE, Times Staff Writer Anthrax, e-mail and competition from FedEx and UPS have made for troubling times for the U.S. Postal Service. In the Tampa Bay area, jobs are being slashed and routes are being changed. Post offices are being evaluated for possible closure, and scaling back delivery from six days a week is being discussed. "If we don't change, the Postal Service is going to continue on this road of losing money," said Tampa Postmaster Rich Rome. "This is the time to transform the Postal Service." In the next five years, about 9 percent of the 11,000 15-county Suncoast district workforce will be chopped, primarily through attrition, postal officials say. That follows a loss of about 500 jobs the past two years. "As every position becomes vacant, we're going to look at that position," said Peter Captain, the manager of the Suncoast district, which includes Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties. The local job loss is part of $5-billion in cuts planned nationwide through 2006 amid growing concerns about the agency's financial outlook. The changes come as the cost of a first-class stamp rises by 3 cents to 37 cents on June 30. Postal officials cite a number or reasons for the problems: the amount of mail decreased last year because of the anthrax mail scare; competition from electronic messaging; online banking; and private mail carriers. Lawmakers requested a reform plan after the General Accounting Office concluded last year that the Postal Service was at-risk because of declining business and rising costs. The agency lost $1.7-billion last year. Losses also are expected this year. If approved by lawmakers, the overhaul would transform the agency into a "commercial government enterprise" and give the Postal Service more power to set pricing, consolidate offices, offer new services and negotiate with employees. Operating under congressional guidelines but receiving no taxpayer dollars, the Postal Service wants the ability to offer bargains to large-volume companies and operate more like a corporation. Customer B.J. Skinner, 70, says the agency would be more successful if given more autonomy. "It seems like it should be like any business," he said, dropping off letters at a downtown Tampa post office. "They ought to be able to pay their own way." Local union representatives said agency reforms are necessary since Congress hasn't set standards for the agency since 1970. But they worry about the job cuts. "It's going to be trying times over the next couple of years," said Jim Good, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Local No. 599, which represents 775 Hillsborough County carriers. Unlike the job cuts since 1999, which primarily affected mail sorting clerks with the increased use of automated sorting machines, the future reductions will spare no craft, said postal spokesman Gary Sawtelle. "It's across the board," he said. "Letter carriers. Clerks. People that work in automation. Supervisors." Bob Bloomer Jr., national business agent for the American Postal Workers Union in Tampa, questions how the agency can cut so many jobs, especially the clerks who have borne the brunt of the reductions. "The impact is already here now," said Bloomer, whose union represents 30,000 clerks, maintenance workers and mail drivers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. O.D. Elliott, president of the Westcoast letter carriers union representing Pinellas and Manatee counties, worries for his workers. He said they are already dealing with increased pressure from management that he likened to "prison conditions." "We're going to do everything we can to make sure letter carriers are able to go to work and get a fair day's wage for a fair day's work," Elliott said. "The Postal Service depends on the delivery." Veleria Chambers, 35, said she hopes customer service doesn't decline. The Tampa woman has received her mail through a post office box after a $30,000 check was delivered to another address. Postal officials say the changes are necessary to maintain universal postal delivery, where everyone, regardless of where they live, pays the same amount for mail. In the Tampa Bay area, mail volume dropped 4 percent last year. But the number of addresses increased by 50,000. "That takes additional resources to deal with those things," Captain said. "The plan is if we can get some reform through Congress and continue some cost cutting measures, there won't be a reduction in service. "You can't just continue to add new work and not add new revenue." -- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.
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