EXPANSION OF POSTAL CENTER WILL DOUBLE SIZE

Bar codes, scanners and automatic sorters have made the processing and distribution of mail easier in Southeast Missouri over the past eight years.

"But we've run out of space," said Mike Keefe, Cape Girardeau postmaster.

Keefe said Thursday the Postal Service is planning a $6 million expansion at the central processing center at 475 Kell Farm Drive in Cape West Industrial Park.

"Plans call for doubling the space at the center," said Keefe.

The center processes mail for the area from Flat River to Poplar Bluff.

Nationally, more than 48 percent of all letter envelopes carry bar-coded addresses and are sorted by machines.

"We have facilities for all the letter mail," said Keefe. "We want to bring in more automated equipment to handle the flat mail: packages, newspapers and magazines. Currently, those things are processed by hand."

"There won't be any loss of jobs," said Keefe. "This is something that will be taken care of by attrition over a wide area."

"We hope to break ground sometime this year," he said. "We're looking at an 18-month construction project."

The expansion will add 54,000 square feet, which will put the overall center at more than 100,000 square feet.

With the new operation, the center will handle flat mail for the entire area, from Flat River and Ste. Genevieve to the Arkansas line and as far west as Poplar Bluff.

"That includes 160 post offices throughout Southeast Missouri," said Keefe.

The processing center was established Nov. 2, 1991.