Washington, DC—April 17, 2024…Today, Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) joined a bipartisan, bicameral group of 22 Members of Congress in sending a letter to United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, decrying 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, including in Arkansas.
“A common theme of these announcements is the so-called ‘modernization’ of Processing and Distribution Centers (P&DCs) into Local Processing Centers (LPCs),” 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.
The announced network changes align with the Postal Service’s Delivering for America (DFA) plan. However, a recent review by the USPS Office of Inspector General for the implementation of the new Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RP&DC) in Richmond, Virginia, highlighted the problems with the USPS’s plan. That facility was the first to be converted to an RP&DC as a result of the DFA plan. The Inspector General’s review noted that challenges associated with changes to the facility “contributed to a decrease in service performance for the Richmond region that continued four months after launch.”
The letter can be read in full here.
Congressman Womack initially expressed his concern for the consolidations and operational changes when USPS announced in November the Mail Processing Facility Review being conducted by USPS with respect to the NW Arkansas P&DC in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The letter can be read here.