U.S. Postal Service Consolidation Eliminates Processing At Eight KY Plants, Cancels 190 jobs

By Lane Report Staff

Eight Kentucky facilities will be affected by the recent announcement that the United States Postal Service will be consolidating its mail processing facilities in an effort to reduce operating expenses.

The Kentucky facilities slated to close as a result of the consolidations are located in Bowling Green, Campton, Elizabethtown, Hazard, Lexington, London, Paducah and Somerset. A total of 190 jobs will be eliminated as a result of the consolidations.

Since 2006, the postal service has seen a 25 percent decline in first-class mail volume.

Work at the facilities that are scheduled to close will be moved to other processing centers in Louisville; Evansville, Ind.; Knoxville and Nashville, Tenn.

The postal system said the changes are “a necessary part of a larger comprehensive plan developed … to reduce operating costs by $20 million by 2015 and return the organization to profitability.”

In a statement announcing the consolidations, the USPS said it is “in the midst of a financial crisis due to the combined effects of the economic recession, increased use of electronic communications, and an obligation to prefund retiree health benefits.”

The postal service said that since 2006, first-class mail volume has rapidly declined, resulting in a mail mix that generates far less revenue that it costs to sustain postal operations.