Following a push led by Senator Collins, USPS Announces No Further Changes to Hampden Facility until January 1, 2025
Washington, D.C. – In a formal response released today, United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced that he was pausing any further changes at the Hampden Processing Facility until January 1, 2025. The Postal Service has proposed converting the USPS Processing and Distribution Center in Hampden into a Local Processing Center, which would force outgoing mail processing to the Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Scarborough, 130 miles south of the Hampden facility. As part of this announcement, DeJoy committed to pausing all similar changes at facilities across the United States for the rest of this year.
Dejoy’s response followed a bipartisan letter led by Senators Collins and Gary Peters (D-MI). The letter was signed by 26 Senators, including Senator King, and it called on USPS to stop the facility and transportation changes in its network plan until they could be studied to ensure they will not harm mail delivery service.
“This USPS pause is welcome news for the people of Maine,” said Senator Collins. “As I have said repeatedly, any consolidation of Maine’s two USPS processing facilities located in Hampden and Scarborough would jeopardize the reliable delivery of mail, including medication for Mainers who rely on mail order pharmacies and deliveries from federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs for their prescriptions.”
“This pause, however, should not be temporary – it should be permanent,” Senator Collins continued. “The USPS should abandon these proposed changes entirely until there can be a study that ensures mail delivery will not be harmed, and we will continue to press them to do so.”
Senator Collins has fought against proposed changes to the Hampden Plant since 2012, when she led the successful effort to halt a proposed complete closure of the Hampden plant. Last month, Senators Collins and Joe Manchin (D-WV) led a bipartisan group of 22 Members of Congress, including Senator King and Representative Jared Golden, in sending a letter to DeJoy opposing the USPS’ recent nationwide consolidation and review announcements.
In November 2023, she penned a letter to DeJoy objecting to the proposal to consolidate outgoing operations of Maine’s two USPS processing facilities. Senator Collins also provided comments for a public meeting on the proposal in February. Prior to this, Senator Collins wrote to DeJoy several times, addressing concerns about delivery delays and workforce retention in Maine and across the national postal network. Additionally, she met with the USPS Inspector General last fall to discuss their examination of Postal Service quality in Southern Maine.
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