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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowTexas-based logistics firm Alan Ritchey Inc. plans to shut down operations in Plainfield and put 242 employees out of work by mid-October, according to a filing with state workforce officials.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification was filed with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development on Aug. 3. It lists Oct. 16 as the closing date for the operations.
According to the Indiana Secretary of State, Alan Ritchey registered to do business in Indiana in 2018, with its principal office at 701 Columbia Road, Building No. 6, in Plainfield. The 382,000-square-foot building was constructed in 2018.
Based in Valley View, Texas, Alan Ritchey Inc. describes itself as a family-owned company that provides services to the government, as well as industrial, agriculture, energy and transportation sectors. It was founded in 1964.
Representatives of the firm did not respond to an IBJ request for more information on Monday morning.
WARN notices typically contain more information about the circumstances of business closures, but state officials said on Friday they had not yet received a letter with more detail from Alan Ritchey.
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The jobs are actually not being lost. The USPS will absorb these private
contract positions and probably add no less than an additional 150 employees.
The contractors typically use half the number of employees that the Postal Service usually uses for the same amount of work & production.
This company had only a contract with the Postal Service?
Scott G.
Yes, Alan Ritchey’s only work and contract here in Indianapolis was with the
United States Postal Service. The contracts are typically four year contracts.
They begin and end on the Postal’s calendar. The facility in Indianapolis has
changed hands at least four times.
People would be amazed at how much work the USPS has contracted out
to the private sector. Almost every major Postal distribution center is contracted
to the private sector. The bulk of the trucking & transportation are also contracted All of these are non – union. In fact they are not allowed to unionize.
Postal started contracting to save money on labor and benefits. Plus under the
contractors there are no union work rules.
The contractors have saved Postal an enormous amount of money over the last
20 years especially. Not only do the contractors save Postal money on benefits,
but they typically use maybe half the labor because there are no unions or work
rules. However,, the contractors have their issues and problems also.
The contractors typically have higher turnover rates. They are hard on their employees. The employees have no protections or rights to protect them from
abusive managers.
Private contractors did REQUIRED WORK faster, better, and cheaper.
The standards that the Postal officals required of the contractors was were
much much higher than that of their own union run Postal Operations.
Ex: accuracy rates for sorting mail in a contracted facility was 99.5% required.
Much higher than in any postal outlet.
Required times for Loading and unloading trucks was much more higher and stringent also for the contractors.
Ask any truck driver delivering U.S. Mail if they preferred a contractor facility or
a Postal facility to be unloaded and reloaded. To a driver a driver they preferred the contract facilities.
Plus, if a Postal Offical told a contract employee to jump,, the only response was
“ How High “.
If a Postal Offical told a Postal union employee what to do something, the employee would tell them to stick it in their ear.
That’s the difference.