CLEAR LAKE, Iowa—The current economic downturn has affected every business in the country. When the nation’s businesses experience a downturn, it directly affects the volume of mail.
This year has been particularly challenging for the U.S. Postal Service’s Des Moines-based Hawkeye District, which has seen total mail volume decline by nearly 12 percent. The District includes more than 800 Post Offices in Iowa and the Quad City communities in Illinois.
“In order to remain economically viable, the Postal Service must make changes to its operations, staffing, and facilities to match current mail volume and to maintain current levels of service,” said District Manager Gail Duba.
“We moved quickly to adjust our carrier routes to respond to the current state of the economy,” said Clear Lake Postmaster Robert Hartfield. “Our goal is to keep mail affordable and to continue to provide the high level of service our customers expect.” The change to some local delivery routes will begin January 9, 2010.
An unprecedented agreement signed last year with the National Association of Letter Carriers allowed the Postal Service to move quickly to make these necessary changes.
While working to minimize any inconvenience from the changes, it is possible that mail delivery to some addresses will be at a different time than residents have grown accustomed.
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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.
