U.S. Postal Service officials are considering a proposal that would shift mail processing from Dallas to Coppell and Fort Worth, potentially resulting in the addition of more than 400 jobs at the two facilities.
The consolidation, if approved, would result in an estimated savings of $6.8 million by closing the Dallas Processing and Distribution Center and cutting nearly 1,000 jobs there.A public meeting on the proposal is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Grapevine Convention Center.Faced with a 20 percent decline in first-class mail since 2006, the Postal Service is exploring ways to cut costs and close a massive operating deficit that resulted in a $5.1 billion loss in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30."I strongly emphasize this is a proposal," Sam Bolen, a Postal Service spokesman in Austin, said Wednesday. "We're looking at all of our mail-processing centers across the country."As part of the proposed reorganization, all the mail from North Texas that now comes into the Fort Worth Processing and Distribution Center and its counterpart in Dallas to be canceled and sorted would instead go through the Coppell distribution center. Other mail-processing and sorting duties now handled in Dallas would be shifted to Fort Worth.The changes would result in a net increase of about 460 jobs in Coppell and Fort Worth, Bolen said, and a loss of about 980 in Dallas.Bolen said it's too early to know how many new jobs would be created at each facility. The Fort Worth facility, at 4600 Mark IV Parkway, has 1,224 employees.To help close the operating deficit, postal officials are trying to reorganize the entire system.They want Congress' permission to reduce mail delivery to five days a week and close many smaller post offices and other facilities. Although the Postal Service does not receive any direct U.S. funds appropriated by Congress, it does cover its losses by borrowing from the U.S. Treasury.One result of the proposed changes in Dallas-Fort Worth would be that first-class mail would go from next-day delivery to two-day delivery in a roughly 200-mile radius.Bolen said that if the proposal is adopted, it would likely be implemented in mid-2012.Bob Cox, 817-390-7723Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
