As the saying goes, the American postal system keeps going “through rain, sleet, snow and hail,” but a crowd of Marthasville residents vowed to work in solidarity to halt proposed cost-cutting changes at the post office here.

More than 150 people attended the Aug. 19 “Save Our Post Office” Town Hall meeting at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ to hear from union and management representatives of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

 Residents voiced their opinions and asked tough questions about proposed changes that were, in the words of one participant, “sprung on us.”

Postal officials from the USPS Gateway District office presented what they called a “Delivery Unit Optimization” or “DUO” plan aimed at cutting costs as the nation’s postal service continues to operate at billion-dollar deficits each year.

“The Marthasville Post Office is losing $45,000 a month,” said Ed Miller,USPS Gateway District office manager. 

“Here and across the country, our mail volume has dropped off dramatically with the popularity of e-mail, automatic bill-pay and other changes in how people correspond,” he said. “We are trying to save costs and reduce our losses, but the process should be seamless to you.”

Throughout the meeting, Miller and colleague Debby Wilshusen stressed that the post office will not be closed in Marthasville, noting it literally would take an act of Congress to do so.

Proposed Changes

Currently, the Marthasville Post Office employs 11 people, including four full-time carriers, four part-time carriers, two part-time clerks and a postmaster.

Under the DUO plan — which would go into effect Sept. 11 — Marthasville mail carriers will begin working out of the Washington facility, where the mail will be sorted, and then drive back to Marthasville to run their routes. 

Highway contract route mail trucks will bypass the town and the facility’s clerks will be “excessed” and redeployed to work in another facility. The postmaster likely will assume the duties of the present clerks.

American Postal Workers union representative Fred Wolfmeyer offered a different perspective, noting the important place local post offices hold in the community.

“The post office is going to tell you that the clerks will still have a job — and they will — but your concern is service,” said Wolfmeyer. “What’s going to happen to the rural carriers who have to get to their route and they can’t because of flooding or bridge construction? Service is going to suffer.”

Wolfmeyer reminded residents that the main objective of the postal service is serving the public.

“The local post office is part of what binds and identifies communities,” he said. “The union wants to make sure the citizens of Marthasville continue to receive the quality of service they are used to.”

Miller and Wilshusen argued that service will not suffer.

“We do not intend to degrade your service,” said Miller, telling the crowd that 44 offices have been through similar changes this year and there’s no evidence that service has declined in these communities.

Fundamental Problem

Both union and management camps acknowledged that a fundamental reason the USPS is operating “in the red” is the USPS’s  retirement pension funding program.

Wolfmeyer said the USPS has overpaid into its retirement pension fund by about $75 billion, and that it has a mandate at the beginning of every fiscal year to pay more than $5.6 billion to pre-fund its retirement benefits program.

“They are the only federal agency that does this,” said Wolfmeyer. “They start each fiscal year almost $6 billion in debt because they are obligated to pay into this program which seeks to fund a 60-year program in 10 years. If they didn’t have this obligation, the post office would have operated in the black in recent years.”

Miller and Wilshusen agreed, noting there is a bill in the U.S. House to change this, but it still needs cosponsors.

“The post office is saying they’re struggling financially, and they’re looking at saving costs primarily through work force reduction, said Wolfmeyer. “But there are other things they should be looking at changing first.” 

Trust and Details

While residents listened respectfully to the speakers, at times the questions and comments were sharp and pointed. Many wanted to know why, since USPS said it had been studying the data since last November, the community was only now hearing about plans for changes.

Miller said the plan was to communicate the changes to everyone at the same time to avoid “hysteria.”

In response, one resident shouted from the back of the room, “That’s why we don’t trust you.”

The audience pressed post office officials on how moving carriers to Washington would accomplish significant cost savings.

“A lot of us are caught off balance because we just heard about this and apparently you have been working on for some time,” said Hedy Sutton. “We’d really like to know in terms we can understand what savings you will receive if you are leaving the station open, keeping it manned and moving carriers to Washington.”

“Ballpark figure . . . right around $207,000 a year,” responded Wilshusen, saying the savings would be achieved by reducing staff via moves to other offices “where the workload will support them.”

She said the part-time flexible employees working at the Marthasville Post Office currently average a work week of about 20 hours while drawing $93,000 a year in salary and benefits.

“Wouldn’t it make sense to keep them employed more fully with those costs in mind?” Wilshusen asked. “If the Fenton staff is working overtime, it makes sense to relocate clerks to an office like that to even things out and reduce overtime.” 

‘What Can We Do Now?’

 “This sounds like this is a done deal; what can we do now to change people’s minds?” asked Marthasville Alderman John Graham.

“Give it an opportunity to work, and if it doesn’t, we’ll put things back,” said Miller, which prompted the hall to erupt in skeptical laughter.

Miller and Wilshusen urged residents to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to reform the USPS’ pension funding program.

“You are entitled  to voice your opinion,” say Wolfmeyer. “If you want to keep your post office status quo, you should let your elected officials know and the postal service know.”

Warren County Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage asked Miller and Wilshusen to reconsider.

“Go back over your figures and take back information about flooding and the bridge for consideration,” he said. “Marthasville is a growing community, and our people need to know and be part of a significant change like this, rather than having it shoved down our throats.”

Mayor Dale Verges echoed that sentiment.

“We don’t want to do anything to deter business and growth,” he said.