Missouri senators weigh in on U.S. Postal Service consolidations

Both of Missouri's senators on Monday sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service requesting a push back of consolidations for mail processing facilities.

The planned consolidations of up to 82 mail processing centers across the country will affect two Missouri facilities -- one in Cape Girardeau and one in Springfield -- in the spring.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill were included in a group of senators who sent the letter to the postmaster general Monday, in which the senators allege the postal service is not following its own guidelines for evaluating service standards and considering issues for local customers.

The postal service, according to a news release from McCaskill's office, "failed to fulfill its obligations to adequately study the impact of the consolidations, and failed to inform the public of those impacts."

The senators base their argument on a report issued by the office of the USPS inspector general, which found the postal service did not complete service standard impact evaluations and worksheets as part of area mail processing feasibility studies.

The worksheets, according to the senators, provide the public with an understanding of the consolidations and their potential effects, and can mean an opportunity for people to weigh in on changes.

"There is no reason that the USPS cannot delay its consolidations to provide time for the public to see and comment on the service standard worksheets," the senators wrote in the letter. "It is only fair to allow the process to unfold in this way, and the USPS gains little by deciding to continue the consolidation process on its current, arbitrary timeline."

This isn't the first time McCaskill and Blunt have faced off with the postal service over cuts to services and facilities. McCaskill has opposed moving to five-day delivery and closing rural post offices, while Blunt in August sent a letter to the postmaster general voicing concern over allegations of intentional delays of mail at the Cape Girardeau processing and distribution center. Delays were reported to the office of the inspector general for the postal service after the first phase of consolidation, which stopped origination of mail in Cape Girardeau and shifted it to St. Louis.

Cape Girardeau's dissemination of mail, which is part of the processing service, is set to end in April with the second phase of consolidation. The facility, at 475 Kell Farm Drive, will serve only as a distribution hub from that point forward. Employees from the facility recently held a demonstration opposing the consolidation as part of a national day of action for postal worker unions. The employees said they were concerned about the potential for mail service to slow down even more than it has since half of processing operations were moved to St. Louis and how that would detrimentally affect postal service customers.

A spokesperson for the postal service said there are no delays in mail coming through the Cape Girardeau facility.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

475 Kell Farm Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO