Postmaster General Garners Support Among Catalogers

• moving out of the federally sponsored healthcare plan and allowing the USPS to create its own plan, which would eliminate the need to pre-fund these benefits;
• refund overpayments made to the federal employees retirement system (FERS);
• adjust mail delivery frequency from its current six-days-per-week schedule to five days per week;
• streamlining a mail deliverance system (Donahoe mentioned the possibility of centralized delivery in the future);
• give the USPS the authority to expand its products and services (e.g., its growing packages business);
• allow the USPS to appeal worker compensation and EEOC cases; and
• give the USPS more flexibility in how it prices its products and services.

The USPS has begun to take steps to decrease its costs. The service closed over 200 processing facilities last year and has over 150 plant closures slated for this year. It's also made a concerted effort to rightsize its workforce, including offering retirement incentives to employees and imposing hiring freezes. Within the last year, the USPS has increased its percentage of "noncareer flex workers" (i.e., part-time employees) to 20 percent of its entire workforce. More is needed, however.