Remaining postal processing operations moving to St. Louis

A spokesperson for the United States Postal Service this week confirmed remaining processing operations at the Cape Girardeau facility will begin their move to St. Louis on Monday and end April 18.

Twana Barber, a communications program specialist for the postal service, said in an email some operations moved from the facility in July 2013 as part of the postal service's consolidation and that St. Louis already is processing most of the mail from the Cape Girardeau Processing and Distribution Facility at 475 Kell Farm Drive.

Cape Girardeau employees of the postal service have worried over slower mail delivery in the area, prompted by the postal service's consolidation that is in a second phase. It began in January and will end in the fall.

The overall consolidation of the postal service began in 2012 and mostly shifts processing, or origination and dissemination of mail, from more than 200 smaller facilities to larger facilities across the country. The effort, also called "network rationalization," is expected to save up to $800 million annually and up to $3.5 billion in the next five years. Delivery service standards also have been lengthened as part of the consolidation.

Cape Girardeau and Springfield, Missouri, facilities are seeing some operations end as the consolidation continues.

St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, are taking on additional mail volume because of the changes. Those facilities, Barber said in the email, will "continue to work through the unexpected issues and resolve any delayed mail concerns. Our goal is to provide the best customer service in spite the recent changes."

Barber added that mail carriers are returning from their routes because of timely processing, which allows customers to receive mail earlier.

Cape Girardeau's facility will become solely a distribution hub for mail after processing is moved to St. Louis.

About half the employees working at the facility, including 34 clerks and 11 maintenance employees, will be affected by the consolidation, Barber said. They will keep working for the postal service, but will be assigned to other positions, possibly requiring relocation.

Eleven employees, Barber said, are being placed by April 18, and the rest will be offered positions as they become available. They can select other positions or opt for retirement if eligible.

Greg Davidson, president of American Postal Workers Union Local 4088, said earlier this week some of the affected employees are bidding on carrier jobs.

A decline in stamped, first-class letter volume, coupled with an infrastructure deemed as too large, helped create financial challenges for the postal service.

Davidson said the only way the postal service will get ahead is to provide better customer service, instead of what he sees as less service through consolidation, and the only way to improve would be to keep facilities open and running at full operation.

In 2014, postal service employees said delays existed because part of the mail processing had already ended in Cape Girardeau and not all local mail was coming back from St. Louis to be delivered the day after it was sent. Now those delays also are related to the change in delivery service standards that went into effect in January, Davidson said.

The Richard G. Wilson Processing and Distribution Facility in Cape Girardeau is separate from the post office on Frederick Street.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

475 Kell Farm Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO