U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva wants the U.S. Postal Service to acknowledge that back-scaling operations (and ultimately closing) at the Cherrybell mail center has had a terrible effect on the Tucson community.
Grijalva led members of the Arizona congressional delegation in sending a bipartisan letter to Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan, asking her to respond to the recent results of a survey by city residents and businesses, where of 1,700 of people who took it, more than 80 percent of people reported noticeable delay in their mail delivery services (including senior citizens saying they weren’t getting their medicine delivered on time) since phase 1 of the consolidation began, a press release from Grijalva’s office says.
The Postal Service announced the consolidation plans in 2011 as an effort to reduce costs for the agency. Some of those changes rolled out in January. The problem is, it resulted in the delay of first-class mail, among other issues. Either way, since 2013, rather than processing mail at Cherrybell, the Postal Service has shipped all outgoing Tucson mail to Phoenix prior to distribution, even if the mail has a Tucson address.
The second phase of the consolidation, which was originally planned for 2015 but has now been delayed until next year, will reduce functions at Cherrybell to limited retail operations and little-to-no mail processing, the city says.
U.S. Rep. Martha McSally and Grijalva, as well as other local political and business voices, have pushed to keep Cherrybell running, as well. If the Cherrybell plans proceed, an approximate 250 jobs would be lost and overnight delivery to Tucson would end.
“While USPS’s decision to delay the closure of Cherrybell until next year was welcome news in May, it only postponed a terrible outcome; it did not stop it,” Grijalva says in a statement. “This survey makes clear in no uncertain terms that this consolidation is harmful to our residents, our businesses, and even poses health risks as medication deliveries are delayed. It’s time that the residents of Tucson and the surrounding communities—the very people impacted by this closure—have their voices heard. It’s time to stop this shutdown, once and for all.”
This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2015.
Grijalva never saw a taxpayer subsidized job he didn’t like. The medicines issue is a red herring. At issue is the Mail Order Pharmacies holding up Rx processing times to save money, not the Post Office handling absent Cherrybell. Most business use FedEx, UPS not USPS.
If I am reading this right the mail comes down from Phoenix, ok I get that but my question is : Is it already sorted for the routes by the people in Phoenix? If it is they are doing a lousy job of it. I have seen our mailman run up and down the street because he missed someone or the mail was in the wrong order. I know how the postoffice operates and how the mail is sorted because my dad was a carrier for 34 1/2 years and I have watched him sort the mail for his route and it was a large country route. Years ago we lived in another area of town and you could set your watch by the carrier now we get mail anywhere between 10am to 3pm depending on the carrier.
This article seems to misunderstand phase 2 of the consolidation plan. Phase 2 has not been postponed until next year. It has already begun. About 62 phase-2 consolidations, including Cherrybell, have been postponed to 2016, but they represent only a part of phase 2. Some phase-2 consolidations took place in 2014, and the new service standards associated with phase 2 — which added another day to most delivery times — began in January 2015. At that time, every plant in the country changed its operations to take advantage of slower delivery expectations. The mail slowed down the first time in 2012, when phase 1 began, but if people in Arizona are noticing slower mail more recently, it’s because of the phase -2 changes that have already taken place. The whole country is experiencing these delays. For more on this, see http://www.savethepostoffice.com/new-usps-service-performance-reports-show-significant-delays-delivering-mail
Joe Bloom you realize the Postal Service is self support through postage rates and has not received tax dollars since the early 1970’s
The real question is: Did Grijalva vote for the PO to fully fund their pension program for the next 75 years, or whatever the time is? From what I have been led to understand, that was what caused all the severe cutbacks in the first place.
Joe Bloom, you are misinformed and a liar.
My TUCSON VA MEDICINE PRESCRIPTIONS are not a mail order pharmacy. I am not some old codger ordering boner pills from Canada.
Veterans are experiencing delays receiving medicine in a desert climate that can damage meds susceptible to extreme temperatures.
These delays are also costing local businesses money and time. My mechanic now has to personally drive to local parts distributors, during business hours, so that he can pick up parts immediately get to avoid mail delays now. Next day mail now takes 2 days, usually.
Do your research people. The potential job losses are just one of the many negative facets of this closure.
The postal service gets $100 million per year from the feds. But that won’t come near to taking care of pensions. It’s time for cuts.
Joe Bloom, you have not sorted mail at Cherrybell or you would have seen 100s of medicine packages sorted every night. If you want Saturday delivery from UPS or FedEx, thank the post office. They send it to us and we deliver it at the same price even though they charge a higher fee for the service. The water bill you send to city hall goes through Phoenix, if they have time; if not, they send it to L.A. for processing.
David w, you are misinformed. Thanks to Congress, the P.O. has to PAY in $5.5 BILLION each year to pre-fund its’ retirement 75 years in advance. No other government agency has to do that because they use tax dollars while the P.O. makes its’ own money.
The big problem is the Postal Service is using an invalid and skewed methodology under their Five Point Business Plan called the Function 4 which is utilized to measure mail volume versus worked hours. The problem is they are not getting accurate counts because they do not follow the formula. I was part of a Function 4 that was conducted at a station that a function 4 determined the station had too many employees for the amount of mail volume and abolished four jobs. They proceeded to do several other stations and made the same determination to abolish jobs, the Union filed a grievance that took two years to resolve at step three which resulted in all the employees from every one of the stations who’s jobs were abolished have retreated back to their jobs or had the opportunity to do so. They had to return all the employees because they were constant violation of the contract to get the mail out crossing crafts, 1.6 violations and utilizing PSE’s to do the work of the employees whom jobs they abolished. So that is where the problem lies and I wanted the grievance to go to arbitration because it was a well documented grievance, but the Union settled and they paid two people 50% of out of schedule pay and that is another story. And David w the Postal Service does not get one red cent from the federal government you need to do your homework before passing on information.
This is so much bullshit. We do not need mail delivery 6 days a week. Cut it to one. There should be a hiring freeze nationwide in the PO until they turn a profit.