By Rob Stapleton
Alaska Journal of Commerce

The U.S. Postal Service plans to offer early retirement for its Alaska workers in an effort to make up for declining mail volumes, according to a USPS spokesperson.

“We have experienced continual volume drops, and we have almost completely lost the first-class mail market,” said Darus Macy, spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service. “We have to make adjustments to areas that have lower volumes just like we have to when we see volume increases.”

Mail volumes for Alaska dropped 10 percent overall between fiscal years 2007 and 2008, according to Macy. Letter carrier volumes were down 6 percent over the same period.

The early retirement option is not open just to the Alaska district, but is a nationwide effort to adjust to the effects of e-mail and small-package carriers like UPS and FedEx.

“For instance the state of Alaska is dropping sending the Permanent Fund Dividend booklets next year, and the banks are now offering online statements. This was our most profitable product, but we’ve all but lost it,” Macy said.

The Fairbanks Post Office recently lost three clerk positions to early retirement, an option that was offered Dec. 31. Future early retirement dates are Feb. 28 and March 31.

“We are not getting a lot of people rushing to take this,” Macy said. “There is no real incentive offered and due to the state of the economy, some workers want to remain working because their retirement investments have dropped in value.”

Macy said the postal service does not layoff personal; it just doesn’t replace people when they leave. The Alaska district employs nearly 1,800 workers.

The USPS operates 284 offices in the state, including post offices, stations and contract offices.

The operating budget for 2008 was about $188 million, which does not include air transportation costs to move mail around the state. The Alaska district’s revenue in 2008 was about $155 million.

There is no specific number targeted in the retirement effort, and no figures for cost savings were available from the USPS, Macy said.

While first-class mail volumes are dropping in Alaska, small package volumes are seeing a boost, Macy said.

“Due to the use of the Internet, we are seeing an increase in the package delivery sector in Alaska,” Macy said. “We are aggressively marketing to the package market, and for the first time are offering discounts to volume users.”

To thwart further declines in general mail volumes, the USPS is marketing its services by offering direct mail and targeted mailings to advertisers that use high volumes.

The postal service is also offering what it calls “last mile delivery,” meaning high-volume package orders will be delivered directly to the receiver’s address.

“We deliver every day to every address. We are already out there so we can offer a service that others can’t here in Alaska,” Macy said.

Meanwhile, the Post Office is having a hard time finding employees who want to work in Bush Alaska.

“We offer openings to our employee pool first, but there is not a whole lot of interest by workers to move to places like Barrow, so we have to advertise the jobs and are having a hard time finding replacements when they leave,” she said.

Rob Stapleton can be reached at rob.stapleton@alaskajournal.com.