N.O. postal facility move to B.R. put on hold

So as not to disrupt the 2012 presidential and congressional elections this fall, the U.S. Postal Service says it is temporarily suspending the planned Sept. 1 closing of 223 postal processing facilities around the country. It’s unclear how much of a lifeline that gives a New Orleans processing plant employing nearly 900—which is to close and have services consolidated in Baton Rouge—as postal officials would not say which facilities around the country will be on an early closing list and which would be put off until 2013. The 223 closures announced in late February are part of a massive restructuring effort by the USPS aimed at saving $2 billion per year and $20 billion by 2015. At the current rate, the postal service’s debt is projected to reach $18 billion by 2015. Under congressional pressure, the struggling agency had already agreed not to shut any processing plants before May 15. The announcement Wednesday says that while the USPS can close facilities between May 15 and Aug. 31, it will suspend the process on Sept. 1 through the early part of next year. Postal officials say they don’t want to do anything that could delay absentee ballots or registration efforts dependent on the mail. Postal officials predict many of the 880 employees affected in New Orleans will take jobs at other postal facilities, including the Baton Rouge processing center, slated to process its mail in addition to another plant on the closing list in Lafayette.