The U.S. Postal Service has begun insourcing some of its trucking operations, opening the possibility of bringing back in house thousands of jobs that are currently contracted out.
The pilot program started in Oklahoma City with 125 insourced jobs late last year and has since expanded to the larger Richmond, Virginia, area, including Charlottesville, according to officials involved in the initiative and public job postings. The Postal Service is actively looking for areas to expand the program, though it is so far relaying few details about its long-term plans to stakeholders or the public.
The Oklahoma City pilot was set to last at least six months, but is still in effect nine months later. USPS signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Postal Workers Union to create a new job series—postal vehicle operator—as part of the initiative. The Richmond expansion coincided with the Postal Service revamping its mail transportation in that metro area, as the city will host one of the agency’s first new, all-inclusive Regional Processing and Distribution Centers.