Pikeville post office jobs safe, for now

BY LINDSAY LANCASTER

STAFF WRITER

Although two jobs were lost in February, the prospect of the Pikeville Post Office losing 13 additional jobs is not looking very likely.

Mark Hulme, the Manager of Operations and Program Support for the US Postal Service, said for the time being, he doesn't foresee the need to transfer any workers, despite all of the changes that have been made.

One of those changes is that the Pikeville office lost a letter-sorting automation machine to Lexington, according to Pikeville's Postmaster Darrell Rose.

Rose said the office lost two jobs in February because the machine was moved to Lexington, and since the machines were gone, there was no longer the need for the machine operators.

The USPS, nationwide, is “striving for efficiency, whenever and wherever we can,” Rose said. Efficiency is the reason why the district office in Louisville decided to move the machines to Lexington, so the company could centralize the sorting process and equipment, Rose said.

“We don't get any money from taxes, at all,” Rose said. “We operate sort of like a business would,” he said, stressing that the company tries to keep postage rates down to stay competitive in their market.

“I don't expect any major personnel changes, I expect we've weathered the storm on mail processing changes and consolidation,” Rose said. “I'm not deeply concerned that any of my personnel will be negatively affected from this point on.”