Postal Pickets

     Postal workers in the Lake Charles area staged an informational picket Wednesday at the post office downtown.  The workers say they are fighting transfer of mail processing from Lake Charles to Lafayette.  The workers fear that the U.S. Postal Service plans to relocate the processing to Lafayette in order to consolidate.  And they're concerned they could lose jobs.  Union members say the consolidation effort will hurt the local economy and slow mail delivery.  But a spokesman from the U.S. Postal Service told 7News that the idea of moving some operations to Lafayette is only being studied right now.  And if approved, no employees in Lake Charles would lose their jobs.  Are you for or against the idea of transferring the local mail processing to Lafayette? 

Comments

[Lucifer and Lucy - Don't Live in Kissaska]

As a business the USPS should have gone BANKRUPT years ago , BILLIONS in bailouts every QUARTER .............the whole organization is a WELFARE NANNY coverup ---CLOSE it and sell the bones to FedEx / UPS
On second thought they probably wouldn't want the over burden of the workless employees and their CUUUUUUUUUSHY Benes which make Wall Street Blush --------CLOSE IT and throw the BUMS OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOVEMBER 2 , What will you DO ? NO MORE UNIONS !

[bill]

Amen Lucifer and while you're at it, Amtrac should be closed as well.

[Da Gardner]

I donts care who brings me the mail as long as my government check gets delivered, heck all i get in the mail is advertisements and my check, don't got no bills thanks to the great and giving Mr. Obama. But as far as the peeps striking, a pure waste of time, if the union cared about your input and thoughts they would have asked, did they? NO do the care? NO

[Da Gardner]

PS. anybody see the dude for the Rent Is To High Party??? i kinda like that guy, maybe we can get him to move from NYC to LC and he could take care of the criminals who run this place now, that's you mr tax assessor i am talking about.

[Harry Potter]

DUH! Send our jobs to Lafayette? Com on Man! How will that help Lake Charles? Stupid question....

[Lucifer and Lucy - Don't Live in Kissaska]

Dear Harry P , I left Lake Yuk in 1985 because there were no jobs , there are NO jobs now , I swing back once a year to see nothing has changed .......Lay Flatt is progressive , prosperous and has JOBS . The USPS is a Joke and it is obvious that Lay Flatt wins again Congrats to the Stagnant fathers of LC

[FLEDA]

I don't use snail mail anymore. I pay my bills online. Most of the mail I receive is junk or the couple of bills that are not online billers. But I can't help but notice that the stuff I do receive that was sent from someone in Lake Charles has a Lafayette postmark anyway, so how is this going to be different? Doesn't anything mailed locally go to Lafayette then back here anyway?

[Mike]

Despite all the sarcasm displayed by most of the previous bloggers, there is a serious side to this question. Like FLEDA, I've gone to online bill paying just to avoid the increasing cost of postage. As postage increases, my use of their service decreases accordingly. That's certainly not what they intended but it's a natural reaction and I will continue to do that. In order to "help" the Post Office, I send all those solicitations with stamped return envelopes back with ads from competing mailouts. I black out the identifying barcode on the rear flap of the envelope and stuff it with whatever is handy. It gives the Post Office some business at the expense of those nuisance credit card companies. I don't think mail service will be any slower (one day delay won't hurt)if the processing moves to Lafayette so that's not a concern for me. The Post Office says no jobs will be lost but what they don't say is that, in order to keep your job, you'll have to relocate to Lafayette. That's unfortunate for those workers affected but...that's life.

The postal workers are forbidden by law to strike so picketing is their only option. I certainly don't blame them for calling attention to their plight. I believe the relocation of the processing center to Lafayette was proposed several years ago and it was decided then to keep it in Lake Charles. Apparently times have changed.

With the Post Office in the red, I don't blame them for trying to consolidate to save money. Personally, it really doesn't make any difference to me if the processing center is moved to Lafayette. The mail will still be delivered and the world will continue to go round and round.

[Steve]

I feel bad for the people that work there, but the Post Office is a business and sometimes businesses close to save money. They should consider themselves lucky that they will still have a job elsewhere. Thats a luxury many unemployed people wish they had. The only thing I really care about in the mail is Netflix movies, so I can wait an extra day.

[Colleen]

I get that moving the center to Lafayette will cost Lake Charles jobs, but it really is impossible for the USPS to make any kind of profit anymore. I pay all my bills online because it's just faster and much more economical. Besides, I hate going anywhere near a post office. If I have a package, I go to the UPS Store or FedEx, who has some great 3-day rates without the 20 minute wait. Will waiting an extra day for all those advertisements that get stuck in your mailboxes make that much of a difference in your life? I feel bad for the postal workers who are good people, but you just can't keep workers on if there's no money being made.

[sookie]

If it moves to Laffy, the mail will not slow down ! It comes from Laffy in the first place !

[Eric]

I support the postal workers' efforts to have the mail processing remain in Lake Charles. And to support the post office, I will follow Mike's advice and send back the junk mail the way it came.

And as for unions, God bless them! If it weren't for unions, there would be no weekends off, children would be working in dangerous factories, employees would be maimed or killed with no consequence to the fat cat employers.

The USPS is not a fat cat, but the anti-union comment deserves to be countered. The USPS is, rather, a public service that nearly everyone uses and benefits from in one way or another. Since everyone benefits from it, then it is only logical that we support the service through our taxes. That's why we decided to tax ourselves in the first place: to provide for our mutual needs.

So lay off the public service employees and the unions!

[CTtcg]

Why would you want to lay anyone off, Eric?