The Postal Service's voluntary early retirement offer has been distributed to eligible mail handlers, and hundreds of mail handlers now have the opportunity to retire early - at a reduced annuity - on May 31, 2004. As previously announced, specific decisions about whether or not the Postal Service should utilize the OPM-granted authority to offer early retirement to eligible mail handlers are being made by postal management locally, at either the Installation or District level. Meanwhile, the NPMHU National Office is working hard in an effort to maximize the options available to eligible mail handlers, while at the same time encouraging those mail handlers who are offered early retirement to consider carefully the financial and personal impact of that option if it becomes available to them.