In a move which immediately drew broad criticism across government and industries, the United States Postal Service has announced in a letter that it intends to move mail processing for Central Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri. As part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” (DFA) 10-year plan, the USPS will convert the Processing and Distribution Center located in Springfield into a smaller-scale Local Mail Processing Center. The decision advances plans first announced earlier in the year, which will dramatically shift the organization of mail delivery throughout the United States.
In January, following nationwide disruptions to holiday mail deliveries due to downsizing of the temporary holiday workforce, the USPS issued a letter of intent to undertake a Mail Processing Facility Review of the Springfield post office; the review is the first step in plans to downgrade postal service in Central Illinois and move all processing and distribution out of state.
“The plan informs and powers initiatives to improve organizational and operational processes to actively make the Postal Service an efficient, high-performing, world-class logistics and delivery provider,” declares the letter, describing the plan to relocate middle Illinois’s postal processing over 100 miles south across state lines.
Further, the letter promised that “Business mail entry, Post Office, station, and branch retail services are not expected to change, and delivery services will be unaffected.”
However, Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher’s office has warned that the Postmaster General’s plan will have a lasting, damaging impact on the reliability of mail in Springfield, its surrounding communities, and the larger area of Central Illinois.
“The potential ramifications include the removal of Springfield’s processing equipment, job losses within the community and a foreseeable increase in delays to mail delivery,” the Mayor’s office warned on Monday, “Springfield’s mail and packages will be processed and postmarked in another state, under a different Postal District.”
The Mayor’s office urged residents of the larger Springfield area to speak out about the plan at an upcoming Public Meeting to be held on 6:00 P.M., March 26 at the Hilton Garden Inn located at 3100 S. Dirksen Parkway, Springfield.
Citizens of Springfield are additionally urged to direct comments and feedback on the proposed changes to the Post Office’s web comment portal located at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/mpfr-springfield-il.
