Late-Summer End to Postal Cutbacks Seen

Cutbacks in postal services could be ended by late summer if other ways to save money can be found, Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank said today.

“We are absolutely committed to reopening the windows,” Frank said of the Postal Service’s move in January to close window service an additional half a day a week.

But he told a breakfast meeting with reporters that window hours and other services will be restored only when he is sure that they can be kept open. One of the worst things that could be done is to restore the service, and then have to make the cuts again, Frank said.

“Our tentative goal is . . . late summer,” he said.

Cuts in window hours and Sunday sorting operations and box collections were imposed earlier this year after congressional action requiring budget reductions for the Postal Service.

‘Brave Talk’

The service reductions save $9 million a month, Frank said, and restoring them will mean having to save the money in some other area.

Rate increases that took effect April 3 do not affect the service changes, Frank explained. An accounting change ordered by Congress results in the increased income’s being counted as a reduction in the national debt, not as extra money for the Postal Service.

While rate hikes have been taking place every three to five years, Frank said he hopes that the latest will prove to be the last “for a long period of time.”

“Brave talk for a new postmaster general,” he added.

Frank, a former California banker who has headed the mail agency since March 1, acknowledged that explaining the need for cutting service at the same time rates are rising has been a difficult task.

Projects Canceled, Delayed

The window-hour and sorting cutbacks were not the only economies imposed in January, he noted. At the same time hundreds of construction projects for new postal facilities were canceled or delayed to save money.