Are you contemplating a possible early retirement from your postal career? If you are, and you are reading this, then you are already one step ahead of the majority. You are obviously someone who is seeking information so you can make the most informative decision you can make. Anyone keeping up with the economics of the mailing industry can tell you there are changes going on in this industry. The leader in this industry is the
United States Postal Service. The mailing industry has been seriously eroded by the internet. The
USPS has been damaged not only from the internet, but by the corporate competition of large mailers and large mail movers. These groups have pressured congress to force the Postal Service to relinquish the monopoly it had once held. They have found success in convincing government and the masses, that the USPS should compete with large mailers. So unless the Universal Service requirement prevails, the postal service employment numbers will decline substantially. According to the USPS, mail volume has declined substantially. As we have been taught, "for every action, there is an equal..." or greater reaction. So the writing on the wall is this: Mail volume is rapidly declining, the postal service must reduce employees. The hopes are that this reduction will take place through attrition. However, it must be factored in that people are working longer than in the past due to a greater life expectancy, as well as the fact that cost of health care and energy have made retiring cost prohibitive. Therefore, as the rumors support, the USPS will more than likely have to convince employees to retire by offering some type of voluntary early retirement incentive. Most likely, since the USPS has been forced to compete with private industry, the employees of the USPS and their unions, will insist on buyout incentives equating to large cash offers, no early-out "age" penalties, and reasonable health insurance coverage. OPM has the basic starting point for this. The OPM website explains this as VERA or Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, which allows agencies that are undergoing substantial restructuring, reshaping, downsizing, transfer of function, or reorganization to temporarily lower the age and service requirements in order to increase the number of employees who are eligible for retirement. The authority encourages more voluntary separations and helps the agency complete the needed organizational change with minimal disruption to the work force. By offering these short term opportunities, an agency can make it possible for employees to receive an immediate annuity years before they would otherwise be eligible.
An agency must request VERA and receive approval from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) before the agency may offer early retirement to its employees. The approval from OPM will stipulate a period of time during which the option will remain available. Many agencies have been granted agency-specific VERA and are not required to seek OPM approval for their use of this option.
With this being said, as a postal employee or federal employee, you should familiarize yourself with VERA. Take a look at OPM's website at
https://www.opm.gov/employ/vera/vera01.asp.
The website says, Voluntary Early Retirement offers apply to employees covered under both the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). When an agency has received VERA approval from OPM, an employee who meets the general eligibility requirements may be eligible to retire early. The employee must:
1. Meet the minimum age and service requirements -
* At least age 50 with at least 20 years creditable Federal service, OR
* Any age with at least 25 years creditable Federal service;
2. Have served in a position covered by the OPM authorization for the minimum time specified by OPM (usually 30 days prior to the date of the agency request);
3. Serve in a position covered by the agency's VERA plan; and
4. Separate by the close of the early-out period.
There is no annuity reduction in FERS for employees who retire on an early voluntary retirement under age 55. A FERS Transferee with a CSRS Component in his/her annuity, who retires before age 55, will have the CSRS portion of the payable annuity reduced by one-sixth of one percent for each full month he/she is under age 55. No reduction will be applied to the FERS component of the annuity.
A FERS Annuity Supplement is payable to an employee who has completed at least one calendar year of FERS service when he/she reaches Minimum Retirement Age (MRA). MRA is age 55 to 57, depending on date of birth. The annuity supplement is payable until eligibility for Social Security begins at age 62, subject to an earnings limitation.
The
OPM VERA website is very informative and a "must" read for all postal employees considering retirement.
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