USPS employees in New Hampshire accept agency’s early retirement incentive
More than 8
By Imani Fleming
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MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (WMUR) — More than 8,500 U.S. Postal Service employees, including 50 in New Hampshire, have accepted an early retirement incentive.
The offer comes as the agency works with the Department of Government Efficiency on its budget.
Some postal workers believe the incentive is hurting the agency more than helping it while others who have moved on said the impact is clear.
“I have no doubt that it will further delay the mail,” said Janice Kelbe, a former USPS employee.
The voluntary buyout gives retirees $15,000 by August 2026. It was one of several topics Dana Coletti, president of the Manchester branch of the American Postal Workers Union, said was discussed at an American Postal Workers Union conference in Washington, D.C., over the weekend.
Conversations happened as the Department of Government Efficiency and the postal service formed a new partnership.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the partnership will help with “identifying and achieving further efficiencies.”
In a letter to Congress, DeJoy said he asked DOGE to review some of the agency’s functions and its “burdensome regulatory requirements restricting normal business practice.”
He also said USPS plans to use the early retirement program to eliminate 10,000 jobs over the next 30 days.
Coletti said that the 10,000 jobs was an estimate, not a mandate, and that the 1,500 employees who declined the offer will not be laid off.
The American Postal Workers Union has spoken out against DOGE’s involvement in USPS operations.
Coletti said the agency already faces a retention issue, and even though 50 retirements in New Hampshire may seem small, they will have an impact.
“If you’re in an office with only one employee and that employee decides to take the early retirement, now you have to try and backfill it with employees from another office,” Coletti said.
Current and former postal service employees expressed concerns that reducing staff, privatization or service changes could negatively impact small communities.
“There isn’t automatically somebody who is qualified, and to fill in for them, is that post office just going to close down?” said Kelbe.
News 9 asked Coletti what specific jobs those 50 retiring New Hampshire USPS employees held, but he said that information has not yet been released.
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