El Paso job cuts part of USPS plan to process out-of-town mail in Albuquerque
The United States Postal Service, or USPS, is downsizing its El Paso mail-processing facility and sending some operations to Albuquerque.
That will cut 52 jobs at the East-Central El Paso facility, a USPS report shows. Some jobs will be reassigned, a USPS news release indicates.
The facility, at 8401 Boeing Drive, is being converted to a Local Processing Center and the processing of mail headed out of town will be shifted to the postal service's Albuquerque facility, USPS officials announced in the March 19 news release. Several million dollars will be spent to modernize the El Paso facility as part of the changes, according to the news release.
Currently a majority of the mail and packages processed at the Boeing facility are destined for areas outside of El Paso, according to the news release.
The planned changes come after the USPS did a review of the El Paso facility as part of the quasi-government corporation’s 10-year strategic plan to modernize the nation’s aging postal network.
The facility changes are projected to save the USPS $2.9 million to $3.8 million per year, with most of the savings in reduced transportation costs, the USPS final Mail Processing Facility Review report shows.
The El Paso facility will lose 52 jobs, including three management positions, according to the report. It appears the Albuquerque facility will gain jobs.
The changes are projected to reduce labor costs by $420,000 to $550,000 per year, the report shows.
The USPS news release states that “no career layoffs” will result from the El Paso facility changes, and career job reassignments and reduction in “pre-career employees” will be done in accordance with labor union agreements.
Career employees work in permanent full-time or part-time jobs and usually receive federal fringe benefits, while non-career employees work in temporary positions, usually at lower wages than for career jobs, according to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report.
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Becky Hernandez, a USPS spokeswoman for the El Paso area, declined to answer questions about the El Paso changes. She said in an email that all available information is in the USPS review report.
El Paso Postmaster Cindi Tabbot said in an email that she could not answer questions about the mail processing facility changes because she is not involved in the facility’s operations. She referred questions to Hernandez.
The conversion to a Local Processing Center is not expected to change business mail entry or El Paso Post Office branch operations, and delivery services will be enhanced, the USPS news release stated.
Up to $9 million will be invested in the Boeing Drive facility for upgrades and doing “deferred maintenance,” according to the USPS news release.
"These investments will result in expanded and streamlined package processing and distribution capabilities in the local market and new workplace amenities for USPS employees, such as new lighting, as well as renovated bathrooms and breakrooms," according to the news release.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter, now known as X.
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This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Job cuts in USPS plan to downsize El Paso mail-processing center
