Postal workers in Springfield and across the country are protesting today (Friday). It’s the last day the Board of Governors can vote to stop the closure of 82 facilities across the country.
The Springfield mail processing center is scheduled to be fully closed by next July. Peter Hass is a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service. He says the closure has been in the works for years, because of the steep decline in first class mail. Hass says the consolidation is part of a nation-wide service standard change:
Hass: “For a first-class letter that’s, say, maybe, mailed from Eugene to another Eugene address, would potentially take two days.”
That’s because envelopes from Eugene will be sorted in Portland. Braden Pelky is with the local postal workers union. He says a letter mailed from downtown to a location across the street could actually take longer, because there will be earlier entry times in Portland:
Pelky: “They’ll cut off their times there for following day, process it, and then bring it back down here. So it would take ultimately three days for you to mail that letter downtown.”
The postal service is not funded by tax dollars, but is regulated by Congress. If the Board of Governors doesn’t change its mind, the union hopes congress will postpone the closures another year.
