Printer Praises Postal Plant Consolidations

The U.S. Postal Service's stepped-up efforts to consolidate its mail-processing facilities is good news for printers that handle dropshipped mail, according to a printing executive.

"There is a definite need to rightsize. Therefore we are in complete support of the USPS efforts in this area," wrote Joe Schick, Director of Postal Affairs at Quad/Graphics, in a company publication that was released Thursday. Quad is the country's #2 printer and a major shipper of catalogs, direct mail, and magazines to postal facilities.

"Total mail volume is expected to be about 170 billion pieces in 2011 while the current postal processing network has the capacity to support more than 300 billion pieces."

More than 40 processing and distribution centers are the subject of Area Mail Processing studies to decide whether some or all of their work should be moved to nearby P&DCs. In a recent one-week period, seven new AMPs studies were announced, as described in Postal Service 'AMPs' Up Facility Consolidations.

"It is an opportunity to reduce Postal Service costs while at the same time provide efficiencies to our distribution and drop-ship process," Schick wrote. "As facilities are consolidated and mail is processed in fewer facilities, we're able to build loads that have fewer stops, which should help us manage our transportation costs and make it easier for our drivers to get in and out of postal facilities."

"Unfortunately, local communities and Congress are making this difficult for the Postal Service. It's one example where the USPS is trying to do the right thing, but politics gets in the way."