The Postal Service is offering early retirement buyouts to mail handlers who work in the agency’s mail processing facilities, and other USPS employees who work in a variety of support positions.

USPS, in a memo obtained by Federal News Network, is offering lump-sum incentive payments worth up to $15,000 to eligible mail handlers who agree to a voluntary early retirement in the coming months.

The agency reached an agreement with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, which represents 47,000 mail handlers nationwide, as well as the American Postal Workers Union, which represents 222,000 active and retired postal clerks, mail processors and sorters, as well as other USPS occupations.

Federal News Network reached out to both unions for comment.

It’s not immediately clear how many employees USPS expects to accept the offers, or whether agency leadership is looking at a specific headcount reduction.

The memo, signed Monday, states that “incentives will be provided to all eligible employees who elect to take advantage of the offer with no limit or cap.”

A USPS spokesperson told Federal News Network in a statement Monday that the agency is “offering an optional retirement incentive opportunity” to some employees represented by APWU or NPMHU.

“The United States Postal Service is continuing to transform its business model and build an organization structured for success. As a result of our capital investments in state-of-the-art mail processing equipment and changes to our network, the Postal Service needs to reduce staffing in those facilities that are overstaffed as we continue to provide prompt, reliable, and efficient service to all communities,” the spokesperson said.

APWU bargaining unit members working in multiple occupations are also eligible for the early retirement incentives.

Those APWU crafts include clerks, mail handlers, motor vehicles services staff, IT and accounting service center employees, national postal professional nurses and facility services employees working at USPS headquarters in Washington, D.C.

APWU bargaining unit members who work in the Human Resources Shared Service Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, administration and building support in Merrifield, Virginia or at the National Material Customer Service Center in Topeka, Kansas are also eligible for the early retirement buyouts.

USPS will mail an offer letter and additional information to all eligible employees the week of Feb.

Eligible USPS employees have until March 7 to accept the early retirement offers, and would agree to retire from the agency effective April 30.

The memo states full-time USPS employees who accept the early retirement buyouts would be paid $10,000 on Aug. 15, and receive the remaining $5,000 on Aug. 28.

Federal and postal employees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) are eligible for voluntary early retirement if they’re at least 50 years of age, with at least 20 years of service, or any age with at least 25 years of service.

The memo states eligible employees who had a previously scheduled retirement date earlier than April 30 may retire on their scheduled date and receive the incentive. The memo also states employees who had a previously scheduled retirement later than April 30 must move up their retirement date, and meet retirement eligibility criteria on that date, in order to receive the incentive.

Career and part-time employees represented by the National Postal Mail Handlers Union are eligible to accept the early retirement incentives, but part-time employees would receive a prorated amount, based on the total number of paid hours worked in the last 26 full pay periods prior to their effective retirement date.

Employees aren’t eligible for the early retirement buyouts if they received a notice of removal, or letter of decision as of the effective date of their retirement or voluntary resignation. Employees who separate via disability retirement or separate from USPS via transfer to another federal agency are also not eligible.

Part-time employees who accept the early retirement payment would have to pay back the incentive if they later apply for a career USPS position. Two years out from their retirement date, however, these individuals can apply for career USPS positions without having to pay back the incentive.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee last month that USPS has reduced its overall headcount by about 20,000 employees and cut 45 million total work hours since he took office in June 2020.

During DeJoy’s tenure, USPS has also converted 190,000 pre-career employees to career positions. Republican lawmakers have criticized DeJoy for that decision, saying it adds to the agency’s labor costs, after it posted a $9.5 billion net loss in fiscal 2024.

USPS says the conversations helped replenish its career ranks in four years of attrition, and mitigated the impacts of labor shortages and employee turnover at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

Career employees get better benefits and higher pay than non-career employees, but DeJoy told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month that USPS needs a stable workforce to keep growing its package business.

“From the standpoint of service and cost-effectiveness of the labor dollar, I think there is much improvement that we have made, and much improvement that we can get to,” DeJoy said. “I have to make decisions within the environment I have.”

USPS in March 2021 offered voluntary early retirements to non-union employees at its headquarters, as well as area and district offices — but didn’t offer a financial incentive to those who took the deal.

USPS employees who took advantage of the deal benefited by being able to tap into their retirement funds early.

Later that year, the agency sent reduction-in-force (RIF) notices to USPS managers and supervisors.

The National Association of Postal Supervisors said at the time that many of the employees affected by the RIF were “directly reassigned” to another USPS job, while others had the chance to apply for management-level positions as the agency lifted a hiring freeze on those jobs.

USPS previously offered a $15,000 voluntary early retirement incentive to employees represented by the American Postal Workers Union who left the agency by January 2013.

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