The processing centers in California will be closed as early as the middle of May.
The Postal Service and the unions are negotiating early-retirement or other severance packages for some employees. Others may follow their jobs to where the mail will soon be processed in West Sacramento.
Augustine Ruiz with the Postal Service says business is down by 25 percent since 2006.
RUIZ: "The severe decline in mail volume -in particular, first class mail- has left us with a lot of under-utilized, automated equipment. We need to take advantage of that excess capacity we have in another facility and that is West Sacramento."
Approximately one-and-a-third billion additional pieces of
mail will pass through West Sacramento because of the
changes. Eight processing centers will close statewide.
Los Angeles and Oakland's centers will also pick up some of the
slack.
