New York Metro Area Residents to Benefit from New Plan

    NEW YORK, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States Postal Service, faced
with declining mail volume and a sluggish economy, held high-level meetings
with senior postal officials recently to discuss the proposed Transformation
Plan. The plan would create a new business model for the Postal Service,
preserve universal mail delivery and strengthen the mail system.
    "I met with the Postmaster General prior to the announcement of the
Transformation Plan," said David L. Solomon, Vice President of Operations for
the New York Metro Area of the Postal Service. "In the short term, it will
give us the flexibility to keep costs down and to better serve our customers.
In the long term, we'll work under a new business model, which will secure
mail delivery for our future."
    The new model, called a Commercial Government Enterprise (CGE), would
create a government owned entity, but one that enjoys some of the operational
and financial flexibility found in the private sector. Under the CGE, the
Postal Service would set rates more predictably, be able to retain earnings,
work under private sector labor laws and, depending on future legislation,
could even pay taxes or dividends to the government.
    The CGE model would be a structural transformation requiring legislative
acts of Congress. The proposed legislative changes would be the most extensive
since the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which enabled the Postal Service
to function effectively until the end of the 20th Century.
    "We deliver to more than eight million addresses in this region," said
Solomon. "But the legislation we currently work under doesn't give us the
tools to survive in the current marketplace. Under this plan, that legislation
will change -- and the New York Metro Area will be the better for it."
    The plan also outlined short-term, cost-cutting measures. The Postal
Service has already cut 30,000 jobs nationwide and $2.5 billion in costs over
the past two years. Over 3,000 jobs and $33.5 million in costs were cut in the
New York Metro Area. Over the next five years, costs will be cut by $5 billion
more nationwide through job attrition, outsourcing, plant consolidation,
lifting the moratorium on post office closings and other measures. In
addition, the Postal Service will focus on developing new "intelligent" mail
products to attract new business and better serve existing customers.
    "Mail volume is going down nationwide and in our region, while at the same
time 1.7 million new addresses are added every year, costing us billions in
lost revenue," said Solomon. "We added over 53,000 new addresses in the New
York Metro Area last year alone. But the Postal Service will meet these
challenges head-on. Employees in our region will do all they can to implement
the necessary changes and get the Postal Service back on sound financial
footing."
    Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families,
neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that
visits 138 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service
provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service
receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating
revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services, offering some
of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service
delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume -- some 207 billion
letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year -- and serves 7
million customers each day at its 40,000 retail locations nationwide.

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