WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator
Lisa Murkowski today sent a letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe,
warning him the impending restructuring and relocation of Alaska’s Western Area
Distribution Networks office to Denver without a transition period is
short-sighted. “Alaska’s mail service is more complicated than the majority of
systems nationwide,” said Murkowski. “I understand the United States Postal
Service needs to rethink everything to keep its costs under control, but this
position has a steep learning curve.”
The United States Postal
Service plans to shutter the Western Area Distribution Network office in
Anchorage and transfer those duties and responsibilities to its Denver
office. The Network Operations Specialist, Steven Deaton, who has run
this office is retiring after twenty-five years of service – taking with him an
extensive understanding of Alaska’s unique mail transportation environment and
the complexity of federal laws that regulate how mail is moved in Alaska.
The USPS plan does not include a hand-off or phasing-in plan for the new Denver
specialist.
“I am extremely concerned
to learn that there does not appear to be any transition or training plan for
transferring this knowledge and experience to the Denver operation,” Murkowski
continued. “Placing the responsibility for intra-Alaska mail and bypass mail
service in the hands of untrained personnel two thousand miles and two time
zones away without a clear sense of our Alaska’s routes and challenges may help
the Postal Service’s bottom line but will impact our vast state’s economy and
connectedness.”
Senator Murkowski’s letter
(attached) encourages the United States Postal Service to engage in a
two-to-three month transition period in order to give the new director a more
robust sense of the Alaska postal system’s unique challenges – and track
record.
###