Brockton Postal Plant Part Of Closure Study

By Lisa E. Crowley
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON—Seven regional postal facilities, including Brockton are being looked at for possible closing next year, however a spokesman for United States Postal Service said no decisions have been made and reports that the facilities in the state will close are not accurate.
“We haven’t made a decision one way or another,” said USPS spokesman Dennis P. Tarmey. “We are still studying these plants for possible consolidation and no decision has been made to close the Brockton plant at this time,” he said.
The USPS announced Monday it was continuing a process to look at closing or consolidating seven plants around the state, including Brockton’s facility at 225 Liberty St. that employs nearly 400 people.
The other facilities are in Boston, Waltham, North Reading, Shrewsbury, Wareham, and Lowell.
Tarmey said the announcement was misconstrued and disseminated by news outlets that the plants were in fact closing.
He said the news reports prompted calls of concern from employees and customers throughout the state.
Tarmey said what the USPS is doing is continuing to look at these plants for consolidation, a plan that began in September and will continue into next year.
He said before any decision is made public meetings will be held, in or near the seven communities, including Brockton.
Those meetings have not been scheduled yet and are expected early next year.
No decisions would be made until those meetings are held, and no decisions would be made until the USPS receives an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission.
He said in each plant’s case, there is a possibility that one or more could close or be consolidated into another, such as Boston moving to North Reading, or North Reading moving to Boston.
“It depends on a lot of issues—transportation, space…we have to see what makes the most sense,” Tarmey said.
He said one idea is possibly to consolidate Brockton's plant with one in Providence, Rhode Island.
The USPS is looking at closing or consolidating 252 processing facilities across the country and could potentially layoff about 30,000 employees to save $3 billion and avoid potential bankruptcy.
According to the USPS, annual mail volume has decreased by more than 43 million pieces over the last 5 years and total first class mail volume has dropped 25 percent and single-piece first class mail—letters bearing postage stamps—has declined by 36 percent during the last 5 years.
The closings and consolidation's would be a change in the postal service's 40-year-old standard of delivering first-class mail the next day.