In a sometimes heated uncomfortably warm meeting with employees of the Altura delivery unit, Aurora Postal Management announced that the move and merge with the Main Post Office in Aurora, that had been planned for September 21-22, 2012, will now happen on September 7-8 2012. Further, it was announced that most of the carrier routes would - somehow - be closer to the new station than they had been to the old station, and there would be enough parking spaces to accommodate both the increased number of postal vehicles and the increased number of personally-owned vehicles of employees now scheduled to work there, some 60+ additional spaces in all.

This forced “marriage” of the two crews will also require an additional 35 or so employee lockers to be made available for use of the incoming workers. Interested employees are encouraged to visit the Main Office soon - available supplies are expected to go fast.

Other information that has come to light regarding this move: All clerk jobs from the Altura Station are expected to be reposted, open to bid city-wide, and all scheme-qualified bids are expected to also require qualification in the 80017 scheme. There will probably be other changes announced as the big day gets nearer.

The upcoming September APWU General Membership meeting, long planned for September 9, should probably be attended by all members.

The Postal Service has announced plans to move Carrier Operations from Altura Station, 15355 East Colfax Ave, Aurora CO 80011,

to the Main Post Office at 16890 E Alameda Parkway, Aurora CO 80017.

Here is information from the website savethepostoffice.com:

There are two signs your post office may be in danger of closing: The Postal Service is moving the carriers to another facility — that’s called Delivery Unit Optimization (DUO) — or the lease is set to expire over the coming months.  You’ve got double trouble if both of those things are happening.  It could be that the Postal Service is moving out the carriers in anticipation of not renewing the lease and then closing the post office.

There are about 58 post offices that are being DUOed during June through September and that also have leases expiring over the next year.

In a bad sign for Aurora’s north side, Altura Station has a lease that is due to expire at the end of June 2013. This follows the closing of Fitzsimmons Post Office a few years back - one of a very few local stations that actually made a profit for the Postal Service. And, although successful efforts have been made to prevent Fletcher Station from closing - at this time - reports are that the lease on the property will be expiring within a few more years, and, more immediately, there are plans underway to move and merge carrier operations to Hoffman Heights station within 6 2 months.

These ‘soft closures’ - first move most of the employees to another location while ensuring local patrons that nothing is ‘really’ going to change - are often followed by hard closures, when officials cannot justify continuing operations when there are only a very few employees left in the office and rent payments continue on the entire facility. Meanwhile, there will be direct expenditures of the moving and increased costs from 1) enlargements to receiving facilities, e.g. parking spaces, 2) shuttling mail between the facilities, 3) continuing costs related to mail collection from the ‘orphaned’ facilities and 4) increased transportation costs for city carriers who will now, in many cases, have to travel additional miles every day to and from their routes. These additional costs, because they will be individually small, though collectively large and continuing for years or decades, are often not properly recognized until later.

We believe APWU members should be alerting postal patrons, through attending public meetings and speaking with your local friends and neighbors, about what is happening in our community, and explaining how they can let Postal officials know how they feel.

Hello all,

USPS Management has announced that Fletcher Station’s carrier operation and distribution will be moved to Hoffman Heights on Oct. 6th.  City Council Member Melissa Miller for Ward 1 has worked very hard in keeping the doors of Fletcher open. She is having a Ward 1 meeting on Tuesday Aug. 21st 6-8PM @ the MLK Jr. Library.  As we all know this could  just be another plan by the Postal Service to close the doors of Fletcher and Altura eliminating quality, efficient and necessary service to the communities we serve and who, due to their incomes, disabilities or lack of transportation, are not capable of traveling any farther than they do now for their much needed service. I know there is another meeting set for Ward 2 on August 20th. but it is important that employees and all  NALC and APWU are there for both meetings.  Unfortunately I am at the APWU National Convention but I have meetings set up with or will be contacting our city council members when I return. I have sent both Renie and Melissa info and have been in contact with them via email.  Please try to attend or recruit others to attend these meetings.

In Unity and Solidarity,

Shelly

10 Customer Vacation Hold Mail Will Now Be Held at Which Station? - a Decision Matrix Will Be Needed to Figure This Out.

9 Misfiled Letters and Packages Will Now Require 2 Crews to Locate

8 Customers needing to speak directly with a carrier? Call this telephone number.

   Customers needing to check on a left-notice item? Call a different telephone number.

7 Increase the amount of Postal Service vehicle traffic in the Del Mar Circle/Peoria/6th Avenue area.

.....

In a surprise announcement on Thursday September 6, 2012, Station Manager Lori Hayhurst announced that the “move and merge” of Altura Station to the Aurora Main Post Office, planned to begin on September 7, has been postponed, reportedly for 4 weeks.

More later.