Following Continued Pressure from Senator Collins, USPS Announces Decision to Abandon Planned Consolidation of Hampden Facility
Washington, D.C. – This morning, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy called Senator Collins to update her on the full abandonment of the proposed consolidation of operations in the Eastern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Hampden. During the call, PMG DeJoy told the Senator that the savings created by the USPS’s revised plans will negate the need to relocate any mail processing operations in the Eastern Maine facility, and there are no longer any anticipated employment impacts for workers at the Hampden plant. In addition, the previously committed $12.1 million USPS investment in the facility will move forward as part of USPS’s nationwide modernization efforts. Senator Collins has been a long-time advocate of the Hampden facility and the Postal Service.
“The USPS’s decision to permanently abandon its proposed changes to the Hampden facility is welcome news for the people of Maine. As I have said repeatedly, any consolidation of Maine’s two USPS processing facilities located in Hampden and Scarborough would have jeopardized the reliable delivery of mail,” said Senator Collins. “Mail service in Maine is even more important given that it is the oldest state by median age and one of the nation’s most rural. This decision will ensure that mail delivery will remain the same and that the employees of the Hampden plant will keep their jobs.”
“This is great news for Maine people and businesses! This could not have happened without the intervention of Senator Collins,” said Robert Perocchi, President of the AFL-CIO Bangor Area Local #536. “The decision to keep local mail originating processing operations in the Eastern Maine Processing Facility will help ensure the timely delivery of all time-sensitive correspondence including elections ballots and essentials such as medications for all of rural Maine.”
Senator Collins fought against proposed changes to the Hampden Plant in 2012, when she led the successful effort to halt a considered closure of the Hampden plant.
In November 2023, she penned a letter to DeJoy objecting to the Postal Service’s announced 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.
In April of this year, 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. Then, in May, Senator Collins and HSGAC Chairman Gary Peters led a bipartisan letter with 24 other Senators asking for a full review of the Delivering for America proposal by the Postal Regulatory Commission (USPS’s independent regulator).
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