The Murray State Post Office is set to merge with Central Receiving this week to improve efficiency and decrease University spending.
The merger happens just days after the retirement of Post Services Supervisor James Smith, who has been with the University for 20 years.
President Bob Jackson said Smith has been an important asset to the University.
“He has run the Post Office very efficiently in the midst of many changes in mail operations including the management of increasing volumes of student recruiting mail in recent years,” Jackson said. “We wish James the very best in retirement and will miss him at the University.”
Instead of promoting a mail carrier or hiring someone externally to take over Smith’s role, the position of Post Services supervisor will be eliminated with Smith’s retirement. David Shelton, Central Receiving coordinator, will take over supervision for both departments, while one of the mail carriers will take on more paperwork at the Post Office.
Jackie Dudley, senior vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, declined to say whether Shelton and the currently unnamed mail carrier will receive comparable pay raises to reflect this increase in responsibilities.
Both Shelton and Smith declined to give specifics on how they anticipate this merger affecting their departments’ day-to-day operations.
According to a statement from the Office of Branding, Marketing and Communication, this merger will not result in a loss of jobs for any current Post Office staff or student workers.
“We do not at this time anticipate significant changes to services provided by the Post Office or Central Receiving, and will continue to assess this newly-merged area in order to best serve campus,” said a spokesperson for the Office of Branding, Marketing and Communication.
While the Post Office handles the receiving and distributing of smaller student packages, Central Receiving does the same on a larger scale, receiving and delivering larger University shipments, such as furniture. According to an Office of Branding, Marketing and Communication statement, the University anticipates a smooth merger due to the similar nature of the two departments.
A representative of the Office of Branding, Marketing and Communication said the merger is part of achieving a “balanced budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.”
Dudley declined to provide specifics on how much money the merger will save the University or if money will be saved in any areas other than eliminating the position and salary of Post Services supervisor.
According to OpenPayrolls, which provides open records information on the salaries of public employees, the role of Post Services supervisor had a salary of $37,065 in 2021, 16.3% lower than the average pay for co-workers and 48.3% lower than the national average for government employees.
If the University had chosen to internally promote a mail carrier to the position, it would have meant an estimated $15,000 pay raise as Murray State mail carriers made $21,333 in 2021, according to OpenPayrolls. This is 51.8% lower than the average pay for co-workers and 70.3% lower than the national average for government employees.
Mail carriers from the Post Office have declined to comment on how they feel about the elimination of a potential promotional position.
