The U.S. Postal Service is concentrating some of its New England operations and staff to Hartford as part of the mail carrier’s ambitious plan to scale back costs, The (Fall River, Mass.) Herald News reports.
The service’s Southeast New England District Office, which administers operations for Fall River, Taunton, Brockton and New Bedford, Mass., and nearly 300 other operations, are being folded into the Connecticut Valley District, based in Hartford, the newspaper reported online Thursday.
The shift will eliminate 76 people with the closing of the Southeast New England District Office, authorities said.
The administrative office is one of seven to be closed across the country, from the East Coast to the Southwest, the postal service said.
It’s part of a national effort by the cash-strapped postal service to downsize — eliminating 7,500 jobs in order to save $750 million a day, the paper said.
Affecting roughly 265 post offices, the consolidation will mean all of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts with ZIP codes beginning with 027, 028 and 229 will be administered by the Connecticut Valley District, which is headquartered in Hartford, authorities said.
Postal operations that range from the Cape to Brockton, with ZIP codes of 020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025 and 026, will be administered by the Boston district, they said.
No layoffs have been implemented yet, and employees with 20 to 25 years of experience have been offered $20,000 retirement incentive packages, according to the postal service.
The retirements take effect at the end of this month, authorities said.
