Over The River, Across The Bridge, Through The Woods - This Will Be The New Commute That Beacon Mail Carriers Will Drive If Proposal Happens (Already Happening Elsewhere)

After deep diving into the Post Office issue that percolated in April 2023, when people thought that the Beacon Post Office was closing, it has become clear that the USPS Mail Carriers and Clerks are working in a system that is designed to fail. The new USPS 10 Year Plan designed by Trump appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has presented several decisions that contradict each other. One such decision is diverting all of Beacon’s mail carriers to not go to the Beacon Post Office to sort mail at their home base, but to pick up Beacon’s mail from the Newburgh facility out by the Stewart Aiport, involving a twice daily commute. A Little Beacon Blog drove the commute and took pictures for you to imagine what the new extra drive would look and feel like for the carriers. See pictures below.

Beacon’s Post Office is just one of 7,000 across the country that is slated to lose their mail carriers. Steve Hutkins, founder of SaveThePostOffice.com who follows Post Office news like a hawk, told A Little Beacon Blog: “The number of post office closings that could happen is still unknown, but the 7,000 refers to how many post offices may lose their carriers, not close. The number comes from comments made by the Postmaster General at a forum sponsored by AEI on July 27. He says the Postal Service ‘will be aggregating much of our carrier base into larger properly equipped and strategically located sort and delivery centers,’ and (at about 50 minutes in) he says that 19,000 carrier units (post offices) would be reduced to 12,000 or 13,000 by consolidating them into bigger facilities. In other words, 6,000 or 7,000 post offices could lose their carriers.”

The 10-12 mail carriers who report to the Beacon Post office now would be driving this commute, if the changes goes through in September, 2023. Diana Cline, the president of the clerk’s union American Postal Workers Union, has begun organizing gatherings to inform the public. The first one is a Town Hall Meeting in Rock Castle Rd Rock Tavern on Friday, June 16th at 6:30pm.

Pictured here is the beginning of the route that a carrier would drive across the Newburgh/Beacon bridge to retrieve Beacon’s mail. While Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has designated some of the billions of dollars that the USPS received in pandemic money to new electric trucks for the mail carriers, those have not arrived yet in Beacon.

Diana is concerned about how the mail carriers will service their trucks if they break down on the highway or other roads outside of Beacon. Usually, she told ALBB, local service garages help the local mail carriers. “You can't just have your local service guy doing it on his truck. If you break down, there is only one company that can be on the thruway. You're going to get that one company. Beacon will have a local service guy service the car if it breaks down. That's not going to be able to go through on the highway. These vehicles are not meant to go on highways.”

Once mail carriers leave the bridge, they drive toward the Stewart Airport.

And they keep driving.

And driving. Until they hit the turn down an enterprise area of other facilities.

It will be a while before they see other loading facilities.

Oh look! There’s FedEx…

Ah ha. The USPS Newburgh sorting facility driveway is at the end of the winding road.

Watch for deer though…very important.

The USPS entrance. It’s a narrow driveway. With a sign that says “No Left Turn.” It’s not clear where you would turn left. Because turning left would put you directly into the woods.

The Newburgh sorting facility. Other facilities across the country are getting created into grand, very tall, well-lit with natural light, facilities. Newburgh may not be slated for this treatment. These new facilities are called Sorting & Delivery Centers (S&DC). You can read all about them here.

Diana sees a problem with this. Other than the fact it is not in the community of where the mail is being delivered, she sees a money and accountability problem that is benefiting the Postmaster General Lous DeJoy. “In the Stewart Post Office, there are 2 entrances. The PO Boxes front, and back for carriers. In the back is where the S&DC ‘facility’ is going to be. Take an imaginary line, where workers on this side do this, and workers on that side to that.”

Diana wants to see a report from Postmaster General DeJoy about how he is saving money with these organizational changes that include increased transportation costs and a decrease in the number of clerks. Which she sees resulting in the sale of the Beacon Post Office building, because only 1.5 people will be working in it.

“This is what we need the Congresspeople in the country to see,” Diana told ALBB. “No one is making him do a report to say ‘here's how I'm going to save the money.’”

As for a financial report or analysis, Diana explained why the technicality of the type of building may excuse Postmaster DeJoy from doing a such a report: “PS408 requires that they do ‘amp’ studies. But the Newburgh location is a plant. Carriers are going to a plant, calling it Stewart Post Office. That’s a function 4 because then DeJoy doesn't have to do the report.”

Diana continued: “When you go through that 10 year plan, he's going to have to close them [Post Offices] to save money. Maybe it won't be Beacon, but I can assure you he's not going to keep that big building for 1 person. When you're saying this is going to save money.”

DeJoy said in his own words that he sees no high value for Post Offices during his panel discussion, where he also said he saw no reason to put electrical chargers in the parking lots of Post Offices because the buildings are so old. He demands that electric chargers be put in his new S&DC facilities he’s building.

Beacon has car chargers in the DMV parking lot, and that building is not brand new.

Once Beacon’s mail carriers pick up the mail from the Newburgh sorting facility, they head back to Beacon to deliver it. If there is a package that is undeliverable, or needs a signature, it will sit for longer, Diana says.

Upcoming Town Hall Meeting

S&DC Town Hall Meeting
When: Friday June 16th, 2023
Time: 6:30 PM
Where: Teamster’s Hall
15 Rock Castle Rd Rock Tavern, NY 12575

Towns affected when USPS changes take place:
September 2023: Newburgh, Cornwall, Cornwall on Hudson, Clintondale, Maybrook, Salisbury Mills, Rock Tavern, Wallkill, Beacon

February 2024: Walden, Modena, Montgomery, Fishkill

On Hold no date: Wappingers Falls, New Paltz, Pine Bush

According to the flyer: “Get Information on what this proposed change will do to your Postal customer services, local post office changes, future of your town Post Office, and town safety concerns.”

Speakers from APWU, NALC, Rural Carriers will be there. Light refreshments will be served.

Beacon Post Office Clerks Given Notice To Find New Locations - 1.5 Clerks To Remain At Beacon PO

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in April 2023, during the time of the social uproar at the possibility of the Beacon Post Office closing. While the social panic subsided, the crisis continues for postal carriers and clerks. There is a Town Hall meeting in Rock Tavern, NY on Friday. Beacon’s post office can employ at least 5 clerks. But as part of the Post Master General Louis DeJoy’s plan, is downsizing Beacon’s post office to just 1.5 clerks. Despite a former Beacon Postmaster reassuring Beacon’s City Administrator that Beacon’s Post Office was one of the busiest in the area. So why downsize from 5 clerks to 1.5 clerks if it’s so busy?

The clerks who work behind the front desk at the post office were given notice in late March 2023 that they needed to find new job locations within the USPS, as confirmed by Diana Cline, the president of the clerk’s union American Postal Workers Union. If the clerks did not want to leave Beacon, they could be “pulled” and another job will be chosen for them. At least one clerk is leaving at the end of April. The former Postmaster for Beacon, Colleen Johnson, reportedly recently took another job in Hopewell Junction, and the reportedly temporary Postmaster for Beacon, Jimmy, was on vacation for comment.

When one clerk is working the desk at the Beacon Post Office, and one other clerk is working the back to retrieve packages that are there for pickup, the customer line is very long. Despite the good job the clerks do with each customer.

If at least 200 post offices in the United States and 16 in New York are downsizing to be “spoke” post offices (which means there will be no carriers, but some services will in theory operate out of that building by clerks), as ALBB reported earlier this week, it is unclear how many positions will be available to the Beacon employees looking for new jobs at other post offices. Since the USPS seems to be downsizing nationally, which you can read about in the USPS 10 Year Plan designed by Trump appointed Post Master General Louis DeJoy, who admitted during this panel that he sees very little value in mail or post offices. He sees money in packages and building giant fulfillment centers with billions of dollars given to the USPS from Congress during the pandemic, which you can read about here and here.

By September 2023, according to to the clerk, there will be 1.5 clerks working at the Beacon location: a full-time clerk, and a part-time clerk.

Why Doesn’t Beacon Offer Passport Service Anymore?

When asked why the Beacon Post Office does not offer the passport service anymore, the clerk explained that the woman who specialized in it had retired.

If the USPS’ plan is to downsize the Beacon Post Office (and other Post Offices), then it does not seem likely that the passport service will be available to Beaconites. The next nearest location is Wappingers.

In a letter dated February 28, 2023, the USPS mailed the APWU (the clerks’ union) to let them know that the Beacon Post Office would be changing in order to cut costs while improving services to residents. It did not state which services would be improving, how how the services would improve with fewer clerks employed. The passport service is not slated to return.

Said James Lloyd, Labor Relations, Policies and Programs for the USPS: “As discussed in our July 29 correspondence the purpose of creating S&DCs is to reduce transportation and mail handling costs, as well as provide Postal customers with additional services. S&DCs will allow for easier standardization and management of operations while improving building and operating conditions for employees.”

The local President from the other union, the NALC for the letter carriers, has confirmed to ALBB that they have not received such letter from the USPS.

What Is An S&DC? And How Does It Impact Beacon’s Post Office And Letter Carriers?

Earlier this week, ALBB reported that the Beacon Post Office was under threat of being closed, when it seemed imminent that postal carriers (who are out delivering the mail to your address) were being eliminated from doing this from the Beacon Post Office, and would instead to it from a large facility in Newburgh, known as a Sorting & Delivery Center (S&DC), which are being built out all over the country (see pictures here).

2 Different Unions Representing Carriers and Clerks

The employees are at the heart of this matter, as well as the location of where people will get services (package pickup, passport service, long lines, etc.). There are at least 2 groups of employees being disrupted - Clerks and Carriers. The Clerks are represented by the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the Carriers are represented by the National Association Of Letter Carriers (NALC).

According to letters to the carrier’s union APWU from the USPS, and implicated by new TV commercials, employment of clerks and carriers is going to shift dramatically with the loss and relocation of jobs. Based on the planned relocating or loss of jobs of all but 1.5 clerk employees in the Beacon Post Office, the planned skeletal staff doesn’t seem to service anyone very well. It is a stress on the clerks, and a source of impatience for the customer.

Of the 10-12 letter carriers that are stationed at the Beacon Post Office, it is possible that all would be relocated to the S&DC in Newburgh, or other centers. As indicated by this letter from the USPS to the APWU, which was obtained and published by SaveThePostOffice.com, Beacon is on the list of post offices scheduled to not have carrier service anymore, but to have carriers retrieve sorted mail it from an S&DC. However, according to the President of carrier’s local union, National Association Of Letter Carriers (NALC), no official notice has been given to the carrier’s union from the USPS concerning this, or how it would work.

The local NALC President said that a threat of this relocating has happened in the past, a little under 2 years ago, which is when the Trump appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was, and remains, in power and at the helm of these changes. The union president stated that Utica’s transition had started already. SaveThePostOffice.com has been tracking other transformations that have begun, and the loss of jobs that have started.

That, with this new employment information from the clerk, as well as the TV commercials, indicates the new life at the S&DC in Newburgh will become a reality.

Despite what the USPS sources told the City of Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White, the planned skeletal staff of clerks at Beacon’s Post Office does not sound like services will be remaining the same for resdients, but will be declining. If suffocated enough, then there won’t be a purpose to keep open the beautiful building, except to hold Post Office Boxes. Which will have to be stuffed by a clerk. But the clerk is also servicing the front counter. With the proposed one full time clerk and one part time clerk, it is unclear how PO Boxes will be stuffed in a timely manner while the clerk is serving on the front desk.

The local petition to stop the removal of mail carriers from the Beacon Post Office.

The Employment Petition At The Beacon Post Office

A petition to stop the removal of mail carriers from the Beacon Post Office is on the front counter of the Beacon Post Office, right under the plexiglass windows that separate the clerk from the customers.