Cape mail-processing center may keep some tasks for a while

The Cape Girardeau Processing and Distribution Center is among dozens of United States Postal Service facilities throughout the country expected to hang on to some of its operations until 2016.

The postal service announced last week it would push back planned consolidation activities for facilities or shift some operations to larger cities.

A spokesperson from the postal service's Kansas City office said Friday processing operations in Cape Girardeau, including originating and sending mail to its final destinations, moved to St. Louis in April, although the president of the local union representing postal workers said the facility still is processing letters. The facility so far this spring has shut down only equipment used to process items such as magazines, catalogs and large, flat envelopes, said Greg Davidson, president of the American Postal Workers Union 4088.

The facility at 475 Kell Farm Drive was marked to close when the postal service announced nationwide network consolidation plans in 2011. But the closure later was canceled, and plans for the center changed to include only an end to processing operations, which apparently is being completed in stages and is done only partially in Cape Girardeau.

Twana Barber, a communications specialist for the postal service, said in an email Friday the center will remain a distribution hub.

Davidson said workers at the facility, many whose jobs are expected to be affected by consolidation activities, aren't receiving updates from the postal service.

"As far as we know, it appears everything may stay the same for awhile," he said. "Very vague answers seem to be all anybody's getting. We are in another holding pattern."

Barber said in an April email 45 local employees would be affected by consolidation activities that involved the processing move and will be offered positions elsewhere.

Davidson said since the postal service keeps revising dates for shifting the processing operation, some workers, known as "postal support" or noncareer employees, recently were laid off in preparation for changes.

Several others were moved to carrier jobs, he said, leaving remaining workers with a heavy workload that requires overtime to cover.

Other postal-service processing centers, such as one in Springfield, Missouri, that planned to see operations move to Kansas City, appear to have avoided consolidation changes planned for this summer, at least until next year.

The postal service stated the decision to postpone consolidations "was based upon operational considerations and was made to ensure that the Postal Service will continue to provide prompt, reliable and predictable service consistent with the published service standards."

The consolidation, also known as the "Network Rationalization Initiative," began in 2012 and is in a final stage.

A feasibility study of the Cape Girardeau facility by the postal service in 2011 showed a $3.8 million annual savings through ending local processing operations. The postal service has ended processing in more than 353 facilities since 2006, according to its website.

The postal service, in a fact sheet updated in March, claims network consolidation is needed "based on dramatically declining mail volumes and the subsequent excess capacity in its mail processing network."

During the past decade, the postal service has seen a drop of more than a quarter of its total mail volume, according to the fact sheet, and a 50 percent decline in first-class letter volume. A law passed in 2006 also requires the postal service to pay into future retiree health benefits and is related to consolidation.

Local postal workers opposed to consolidation have claimed the postal service is profitable despite reports of financial loss. They also worry shifting operations caused delayed delivery times and misplaced mail.

Davidson said because the postal service's delivery standards changed in January as part of the consolidation, local mailings that route through St. Louis -- even if sent from one Cape Girardeau address to another -- often take five days or more to reach their destination. Most mail once traveled from one local town to another in one to two days, he said.

"We predicted this all along," Davidson said of consolidation effects. "Over the past three years, we have been telling people, 'Watch, your mail service will suffer.'"

Postal service spokesmen have said no mail delays exist in Cape Girardeau and the consolidation is necessary because of the volume decline coupled with a too-large infrastructure.

Another effect of consolidation local postal customers have seen in recent years with operations moving to St. Louis is earlier daily collection times for first-class mail. Davidson said the only way to improve service is to restore processing operations, and postal customers should talk to congressional representatives about mail-related issues.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri has spoken of the need for postal service reforms and in April called for a one-year moratorium on consolidation activities. She met earlier this month with other senators and postal-worker association representatives about the consolidation.

On Friday, McCaskill called the postponement plan a "short-term victory."

"Consolidating these facilities without fully understanding or explaining their effects to customers is simply no way to run a business. These closures would undoubtedly have hurt rural communities, and the U.S. Postal Service cannot keep solving their problems on the backs of these smaller and rural towns," she said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt also criticized the way the postal service has handled studies and communication with the public related to the consolidation.

Davidson estimated 22 employees, split between Cape Girardeau's post office and the distribution facility, will be left when the consolidation is finished. Full operations a few years ago employed about 80 people, he said.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

475 Kell Farm Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO