Austin Marqua sorts incoming packages at the Pitney Bowes Fulfillment, Delivery and Returns Super Center in Greenwood in October 2018. The company recently announced it would be laying off 311 employees as the result of changing business needs.
Daily Journal File Photo
A Greenwood shipping facility plans to lay off 311 workers as they eliminate the facility’s parcel delivery and returns operation.
Officials with Pitney Bowes Inc., a Stamford, Connecticut-based global high-tech shipping company, said in a notice to the state on June 27 that “changing business needs” require them to permanently close the parcel delivery and returns department of the facility located at 1415 Collins Road, Greenwood. The closure will result in the layoffs of 240 company employees and 71 temporary workers.
Despite this, Pitney Bowes plans to continue to have run an e-commerce fulfillment operation of its approximately 446,400-square-foot Greenwood facility. The parcel delivery and returns operation is being shifted to two of the company’s other Midwest hubs to “more efficiently meet client demands,” said Brett Cody, the company’s senior director of communications.
Affected employees were notified of the layoffs on June 27, company officials said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The WARN Notice was posted the same day.
The parcel department will officially close on Sept. 4, with the layoffs expected to take place from Sept. 4 to Sept. 18 as the company “winds down activities.” The employees do not have bumping rights, or the right to change positions within the company, the notice says.
“Employees whose jobs are affected by the shift have been offered retention and severance if they stay with the company until September,” Cody said.
Pitney Bowes’ Greenwood facility officially opened in October 2018, becoming the first facility to be built in the 350-acre business park east of the Worthsville Road and Interstate 65 interchange in Greenwood. The company acquired Newgistics, a national distribution company, in 2017.
The city council had approved giving Newgistics a 10-year, $3.3 million tax break on both the $20 million building and $16 million in high-tech equipment in 2017. The abatement was transferred to Pitney Bowes as a result of acquisition, and less than five years remain.
Following news of the layoffs, city council member David Hopper has asked the city’s legal department to look into terminating tax break, Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said.
During Wednesday’s city council meeting, council members voted to begin the termination process. Council President Mike Campbell is expected to send a letter to the company informing them of the decision and setting a time and place for a public hearing.
The hearing could possibly take place in August, and company representatives would be present, Myers said.
Despite the layoffs in Greenwood, Pitney Bowes will continue to have a “significant presence” in Indiana. In addition to the Greenwood Hub, the company operates its North American Supply Chain Headquarters out of Whitestown and a Presort Services operating center out of Indianapolis. Pitney Bowes employs nearly 900 people across the state, Cody said.
