Senators Collins, Manchin Lead Bicameral, Bipartisan Letter to USPS Opposing Consolidations, Operational Changes Across the Country
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Joe Manchin (D-WV) led a bipartisan group of 22 Members of Congress, including Senator Angus King and Representative Jared Golden, in sending a letter to United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, opposing the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) recent nationwide consolidation and review announcements that could severely diminish mail service reliability for postal networks across the country. These announcements include a planned conversion of the Hampden facility into a Local Processing Center (LPC), which would force outgoing mail processing to the Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Scarborough, 130 miles south of the Hampden facility.
The Hampden facility is important for mail delivery across large parts of Maine. For example, mail currently sent from Fort Kent to Wallagrass, 10 miles away, is processed in Hampden, 192 miles away. It then returns the following day by truck to Wallagrass, which is 182 miles away. Under the new proposal, this mail would have to be transported to Scarborough, 322 miles away from Fort Kent, and then be sent at least another 312 miles back to Wallgrass.
“A common theme of these announcements is the so-called ‘modernization’ of Processing and Distribution Centers into Local Processing Centers,” the Members wrote. “Taken together, these proposals dismantle parts of the Postal Service’s robust network that helps distribute mail across the country and places outgoing sorting into more distant facilities. The result of this change is that mail will need to travel farther from its origin to its sorting, creating inefficiencies in the system, especially for local mail.”
“These consolidation proposals never have had any discernible support from local communities. On the contrary, we have heard strong opposition to these efforts from USPS customers, community leaders, local businesses, and postal employees,” the Members continued. “Rather than marching forward with these plans and offering short and vague statements dismissing concerns, the Postal Service should be communicating why the organization believes these changes are beneficial and what the specific impact of the changes will be to mail service.”
“The Postal Service provides an essential service upon which our constituents rely. The robust nature of the Postal Service’s current network is its strength, not its weakness. To ensure that our constituents continue to receive reliable service, we urge you to reconsider these consolidation announcements,” the Members concluded.
Senator Collins has fought against proposed changes to the Hampden Plant since 2012, when she led the effort to halt a proposed complete closure of the Hampden plant.
In November 2023, she penned a letter to Postmaster General Louis 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 Postmaster 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.
Senator King has been a vocal supporter of the USPS’s critical role in American society and in Maine, one of the nation’s oldest and most rural states that relies heavily on the services provided by the USPS to receive prescriptions and other necessities. Most recently, he joined the Maine Congressional Delegation in writing a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy to address delayed mail across five delivery units in Southern Maine. This month, he also joined his colleagues in sending a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy urging him to stop any changes to the USPS service standards that would result in job losses and further degrade mail delivery performance, especially in rural states like Maine.
On Monday, Congressman Golden and Representative August Pfluger (R-TX) announced the introduction of The Timely Mail Delivery and Postal Services Act, a bipartisan bill that would freeze consolidation of mail processing facilities across the country and require independent review by the Postal Regulatory Commission of any future, similar consolidation plans.
In addition to Senators Collins, Manchin, and King and Representative Golden, the letter was also signed by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Representatives Steve Womack (R-AR), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), Eric Sorensen (D-IL), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Mark Alford (R-MO), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Mike Ezell (R-MS), and Chris Pappas (D-NH).
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