Pocatello mail distribution center to close
Next year, the United State Postal Service mail distribution center in Pocatello will be partially closed down.
The processing center on Flandro Drive will no longer be processing mail, but will still be used as a post office, transportation hub and bulk mail entry unit.
Pocatello is one of 82 distribution centers across the nation shutting down next year to cut costs.
This means 45 employees will be impacted, but USPS officials say they have been able find employees jobs in other departments in similar situations.
“As for service impacts, typically, stamped first-class mail currently takes between one and three days to reach its destination anywhere in the nation depending on the distance traveled,” Brian Sperry, regional spokesperson for USPS, said in an email statement. “Beginning in January 2015 it will take between two and three days to reach its destination.”
Still, some folks in Pocatello aren’t giving up hope the entire operation will stay as it is in Pocatello. They will be holding a ‘day of action’ from 4-5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14 at the Flandro Drive post office.
The full statement from Brian Sperry, regional spokesman for USPS is below.
…Only the mail processing operation is moving to Salt Lake City and… the building at 1750 Flandro will remain open as a Post Office, transportation hub and bulk mail entry unit. The phase 2 consolidations of 82 mail processing facilities are scheduled to occur sometime between January and the Fall of 2015.
The Pocatello consolidation of mail processing into Salt Lake City is tentatively scheduled for April 18, 2015, but that date is subject to change.
As for service impacts, typically, stamped First-Class Mail currently takes between one and three days to reach its destination anywhere in the nation depending on the distance traveled; beginning in January 2015 it will take between two and three days to reach its destination.
Again the reason we’re doing this is due to the large drop in mail volume, and revenue, we’ve experienced over the last decade. The Postal Service doesn’t have the mail volumes to justify the size and capacity of our current mail processing network.
To return to long-term financial stability while keeping mail affordable, the Postal Service must adjust to Americans changing mailing habits. The Postal Service is adapting its network and infrastructure to the realities it’s facing today.
Approximately 45 employees will be impacted. As with all other past consolidations, we have been able to place impacted employees in other available positions without layoffs. Every effort will be made to reassign employees to other positions.
The decision to consolidate mail processing operations from Pocatello to Salt Lake City was made back in Feb. of 2012.
The Postal Service is in the process of creating a lean, highly efficient and technology-centric operational and logistical footprint that will sustain the organization and the mailing and shipping industry for decades to come.
