Postal Service cuts employee base with buyouts

The US Postal Service is cutting in other ways than just consolidating branches. About 5,000 full-time agency employees who are eligible for retirement accepted a buyout package this week, and 18,000 more have taken an offer but have until the end of this month to formally accept or change their minds, according to a report in The Washington Post.

The agency extended the offer to retail clerks, distribution center handlers and clerks and vehicle technicians, but not letter carriers. The postal service expects to save as much as $500 million with the move.

Earlier this week, the Senate voted to allow the postal service to put aside $4 billion in payments to its retiree health benefit funds.