Stamp of approval

Postal service changes not end of the world

At least this time, the U.S. Postal Service delivered as it said it would. The independent federal agency employs more than 500,000 people in its gargantuan effort to deliver mail and packages across the nation. It doesn’t receive tax dollars; rather, it must make its money through the services it provides. That, once upon a time, required an even bigger work force, but when’s the last time you mailed a letter to someone?

That’s not to say its services aren’t vital. Residents and commercial enterprises still use the mail to conduct a lot of business. A healthy postal system it important to the nation.

That fact is affirmed by the less-than-positive reaction to the agency’s proposed changes in Northwest Arkansas. It was, in large part, disappointment mixed with considerable head-scratching. How can the postal service consider shrinking its local workforce when the region is growing in just about every measurable way?

Back in November, postal officials made official notifications that they were considering changes that would move some mail processing out of a Fayetteville facility to Oklahoma City.

The postal service is in the midst of a decades-long reorganization called Delivering for America, necessitated by billions of dollars in losses over the last 15 years or so. It’s folly to believe the status quo will be sustained in any aspect of its operations.

Postal officials said their goal is to concentrate package-sorting operations into fewer regional centers and to modernize and automate them as much as possible. That sounds entirely reasonable from a big-picture perspective.

Locally, though, the plan meant 13 jobs would move from Fayetteville’s local processing center to Oklahoma City. The packages to be sorted in Oklahoma City are one’s being sent out of Northwest Arkansas anyway, postal officials said, so it really didn’t matter whether they were processed in Fayetteville or 227 miles away.

The USPS reported the changes will save at least $2.5 million in the first year and $2.5 to $3.2 million each year after that.

Of course it’s disappointing to see any jobs leave Northwest Arkansas. Imagine, though, if Walmart shifted 13 jobs — the number expected to be shifted by the USPS — to some other location. It would hardly be seen as a massive hit on the region’s economic future. And Walmart’s numbers are typically much larger when they make a strategic shift for efficiency and effectiveness.

But what about service? U.S. Rep. Steve Womack pressed that question with U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who committed to maintaining high service levels in the region. Womack said he was both wary and hopeful, especially with DeJoy’s recognition of future opportunities to expand in Northwest Arkansas as necessary to meet demand.

We don’t know many companies that haven’t had to make strategic decisions to respond to business demands. Why