“Then I was transferred to Oakford Station. The soup was a bullneck named Johnstone. Help was needed there and I understood why. Johnstone liked to wear dark red shirts. That meant danger and blood.”
— “Post Office” by Charles Bukowski
As the month of September draws near, Ulster County postal workers in the 125 postal area are expressing fear and trepidation in the face of organizational changes slated to affect the operation of county post offices, part of a bold USPS nationwide reorganization and consolidation plan to cut costs.
The 125 refers to all the post offices in southeast Ulster County identified by the first three numbers of the zip code. Directly affected are Highland (Town of Lloyd), Milton (Town of Marlborough), Modena and Clintondale (both in the Town of Plattekill), Wallkill (Town of Shawangunk), and Gardiner. The bulk of 125 post offices are in Orange and Dutchess counties.
Clintondale, Modena and New Paltz had been identified in February as three Ulster County sites under consideration for conversion.
The anxiety was contagious last week as state senators Michelle Hinchey and Rob Rolison publicized the contents of a letter they sent to postmaster general Louis DeJoy entitled “Fight to Protect Hudson Valley Post Offices.” They called for the consolidation plan to be reversed.
Diana Cline, president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Mid Hudson Local #3722, signed on to the Hinchey-Rolison letter, asserting that DeJoy’s plan “will adversely affect customer service in our rural communities.”
Hinchey also raised the spectre of the potential closure of numerous local post offices or their conversion into sorting and delivery centers, known as S&DCs.
Mark Lawrence, a strategic communications specialist for the postal service, reached out to set the record straight.
“No post offices will be closed,” said Lawrence, “and PO Box service will not be changed with the implementation of the S&DCs.”
Postmaster general Louis DeJoy said this month he would be significantly reducing work hours by closing some facilities and ‘removing inefficiencies.’
Pushed to answer whether post offices could be closed outside the implementation of the S&DC plans, Lawrence did not directly respond. “The transformation of our network,” he said, “is necessary and fundamental to our continuation as an organization and service to the American people and our business customers.”
Lawrence contended that the current network of service has been outmoded for decades, creating significant financial losses. He cited increased deferred maintenance costs, deteriorated workplace conditions, and a failure to efficiently integrate mail and package processing and delivery.
Lawrence said there would be no layoffs as part of this effort, and that any movement of employees would be done in accordance with bargaining agreements.
“Customers will see no changes to their local post-office retail operations,” predicted Lawrence.
They’re not saying when
It is hard to imagine how the USPS could afford to lay any workers off. Its own data shows a 12.5 percent decrease in the number of clerks who staff post-office counters and distribute mail to letter carriers, down from 79,182 in 2006 to 69,298 in 2023. During that same time frame, package volume has dramatically increased from 1.2 billion in 2006 to 7.2 billion at the end of 2022.
Clark, a postal worker in the 125 who asked not to be identified, believes cuts to staff are in the mail. “I think they’re all trying to downplay it,” said Clark. “The postmaster is like, ‘Oh, nobody’s closing’. Yeah, you guys are! Eventually! After we leave. Probably six months from now, one year from now. That’s the plan.”
This is the word he said he heard from his union representatives.
“They’re not saying exactly when,” says Clark, “but the post office is saying ‘Oh, no, it’s not going to close.’ However, they already closed a couple of smaller offices.”
A post office in Westbrookville, a hamlet 20 miles south of Ellenville, was closed on June 29.
“Yeah, they closed that. And they didn’t give them no heads up. They said ‘Here, hand this flyer to the customers, they can’t pick up the mail any more.’
A lack of transparency
Under the consolidation plan, more than 150 mail carriers have been notified that they will be expected to drive down to the Orange County transfer station in Newburgh to pick up the mail, drive back to their current service areas to distribute it, drive back to Newburgh to drop off the mail trucks, and then drive home.
“They’re even doing Beacon, Wappingers and Fishkill,” he said, “which is across the Newburgh-Beacon bridge. The carriers are all going to Newburgh? Now, how does that make sense in the snow, in the rain, in the sleet, in the hail? Not only is it not safe, but how is it cost-efficient?”
This postal worker conjectures that DeJoy is looking to cut back on travel expenses accrued by the contracted truck drivers. “That’s fine,” he said. “But why are you cutting clerk jobs? They’re hiring new part-timers to these regular positions. They have not even looked at the financial side of it because they have not submitted any financial reports on how this is going to be cost-effective.”
That’s exactly what state senators Hinchey and Rolison are asking the USPS to do.
“We respectfully challenge the lack of transparency referencing the ‘savings’ this plan claims,” they said in their letter. “With fewer facilities and less staff, rural families will suffer.…We believe a study must be done first to determine what, if any, savings will occur and what services would be lost as a result.”
On May 9, hundreds of postal workers demonstrated at a rally outside USPS headquarters just a few blocks south of the National Mall in Washington. D.C. The rally called for a stop to plant consolidations, the restoration of previous mail-service standards, and adequate staffing in postal operations.
Kevin, a mail carrier in Kerhonkson who asked not to be identified, wasn’t sure what was happening. He has only been on the job for a few months.
“I only know what I’ve read in the national papers about mail carriers in New Paltz going to Newburgh,” he said. “As far as I know, I think it only affects New Paltz and places on that side of the mountain. No one’s losing their jobs. They just have to drive farther.”
Kevin thought that eventually the changes might reach over the mountain. That didn’t worry him. “It’s going to be an hour to get to work, an hour to drive back to do the route, and then an hour back,” he said. “Just think about the commute.” He smiled. “ I work in Ellenville, but if they tell me to go somewhere, I go. I wanna work.”
Workers in New Paltz say the post office in New Paltz isn’t closing. It has been spared from conversion into a S&DC. The workers say they don’t believe their carriers will have to drive to Newburgh.
The story is the same in Gardiner, where a postal employee explained the post office wasn’t closing.
“Everything goes to Albany, to the big GMF, the general mail facility,” the employee said. “They sort all the mail there, and then it goes to Newburgh. It’s just a transfer station. That’s where all the trucks get dispatched to the local post offices.”
This will not be the case for many other stations, where many mail carriers will be expected to make the drive down to Orange County in their own cars and on their own dime.
Getting rid of full-timers
Another postal employee who said to call him John was eager to talk, but was afraid of the consequences.
“I’ve been a dedicated employee for 18 years and don’t want to put my job in jeopardy right now,” he said.
On top of the new expectations placed upon him in the conversion process, come September he thinks he will be making the drive up to Kingston, a drive he expects will take 45 minutes each way when traffic is figured in.
On top of the new expectations placed upon him in the conversion process, come September he thinks he will be making the drive up to Kingston, a drive he expects will take 45 minutes each way when traffic was figured in.
According to John, more than 100 clerks are being reassigned to other offices within 50 to 100 miles.
“All these clerks are losing their jobs,” said John, “because they want to put in a postmaster to do our work. And two part-time clerks. That’s what they want to do across the county. It’s totally against our contract. I’m sure there’s more cost savings if they get rid of the full-timers, but I don’t know how. They make more an hour, they get full pension, they get full medical. The only thing is they can send them home on a slow day. Instead of working them eight hours, they can only work four hours a day. So maybe that’s it.”
Everywhere postal workers were reached, from Wawarsing to Plattekill to Milton, everyone wanted to talk, All expressed fear of putting their names on the record.
“I moved over here so I can retire,” said a mail carrier named Waldo, “but now I have to travel to Newburgh every day. Before I talked to you, I checked with my union rep because I wanted to make sure it was okay. He said, “Absolutely .… Tell them everything because management’s not going to tell them nothing.”
As in many other occupations, job security is connected to retirement benefits, Postal workers fear fully exercising their First-Amendment rights by speaking on the record.
The fear of reprisal and termination by their higher-ups amounts for these government employees to financial coercion for hundreds of Ulster County residents. Most choose to play it safe and keep their mouths shut. Some take the risk of being identified when they choose to talk anyway. Free speech is a privilege reserved for those who can afford it.
Otherwise, there is only the union to speak for them, and the union is losing strength.
Union membership down
The APWU #3722 boasted 648 members in 2002. Twenty years later enrollment has plummeted 51 percent to 313.
Dial the contact number provided for APW Local #3722, and the message for voicemail is triggered after one short ring. The caller is invited to leave a name, number and message, and the voice on the answering machine promises to get back to the caller as soon as possible.
“Thank you and have a great day,” ends the message, and then: “Solidarity forever.”
It’s an uplifting sentiment to end on. But the mailbox is full. It stayed that way over multiple days of calling, unable to accept messages of solidarity in reply.
Diana Cline, president of the APWU Mid Hudson Area, couldn’t be contacted for this article.
The consolidation plan is expected to begin on September 9.
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