Priority Mail: Pinkslips eyed at United Postal Service

Pink slips were used for something different when I worked at the Post Office!

One of my former employers is suffering from hard times like so many other businesses. The big difference? The United States Postal Service is not known so much for layoffs, as they are for their motto and their redefining of the term "postal" into something other than the delivery of letters and packages.

Television station KLSA reports on their web site that the USPS is looking to reduced 40,000 jobs. One of the largest employers in the United States, the Postal Service has been impacted in recent years by the advent of email, the Internet, changes in advertising mediums,and rising oil prices.

“We lost 2 billion dollars and like any other business we have to stay afloat.”
And to keep from sinking, the United States Postal Service is considering
cutting thousands of jobs nationwide. Lavelle Pepper with the post office in
Shreveport says they too are feeling the affects of the same disease hitting the
country… a struggling economy. “We employ about 685,000 people. If we do layoffs
it would include clerks, carriers, mail handlers across all crafts.”

According to the KLSA story, the postal service is looking to eliminate 40,000 jobs nationwide. Employees with less six year of service are likely to be the first to be impacted.



The postal service is also offering early retirement packages to workers over the age of 50 who have more than 20 years on the job.. This is not expected to provide all the necessary reductions.

According to the Postal Service, customer services will not be affected.