Says Congress is still working to reform and strengthen the USPS

Springfield, PA – U.S. Representative Patrick Meehan (PA-07), today urged the United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General, Patrick Donahoe, to postpone plans for postal facility consolidation until Congress completes its work on legislation to reform and strengthen the United States Postal Service. Earlier this year, Meehan visited the Southeastern Processing and Distribution Center, located in Wayne, after it was announced that the facility was set to be consolidated into the Philadelphia distribution center. TheUSPS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is currently conducting an independent review of this decision. Meehancalled for this review following the consolidation announcement.

“While the goal of the consolidation plan is to reduce costs and save money within the USPS system, moving forward with the consolidation plan in advance of final legislative action by Congress has the potential to increase costs for USPS,” Meehan stated in the letter.  “Should the final postal reform law maintain the current service standards, USPS would need to retrace its steps and reopen many of the Processing and Distribution Centers that it had planned to close.”

Below is the complete text of the letter:

Patrick Donahoe
Postmaster General
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC 20260

May 14, 2012

Dear Postmaster Donahoe,

            I am writing to urge you to postpone plans for postal facility consolidations until after Congress completes its work on legislation to reform and strengthen the United States Postal Service.

            Your moratorium on consolidations ends tomorrow. Potential consolidations, involving Southeastern Processing and Distribution Center (Southeastern PD&C) in Pennsylvania and others, are only possible if USPS changes its service standards from 1-to-3 day delivery to 2-to-3 day delivery. Given that there is a requirement to maintain current service standards in at least one of the legislative proposals which Congress is actively working on, it would seem imprudent to continue the consolidation plan until Congress completes its deliberations.

While the goal of the consolidation plan is to reduce costs and save money within the USPS system, moving forward with the consolidation plan in advance of final legislative action by Congress has the potential to increase costs for USPS.  Should the final postal reform law maintain the current service standards, USPS would need to retrace its steps and reopen many of the Processing and Distribution Centers that it had planned to close.

Additionally, the inconsistency where Southeastern PD&C, one of the most efficient facilities in the nation, is being slated for closure while other far less efficient facilities remain open, begs the question of how thorough and transparent the consolidation process has been. I asked for an independent review by Postal Inspector General Williams in February and to date, have not received a response. These ill-considered and premature consolidation efforts should be postponed until the Inspector General has issued his report.

            I understand that USPS is facing dire financial circumstances, but as you can see by the Senate’s recent actions on the 21st Century Postal Service Act (S.1789), and by the House Oversight Committee’s previous actions on the Postal Reform Act (H.R. 2309), Congress is actively working on solutions for the future sustainability of the postal system. I urge you to delay any planned consolidation until Congress has had time to finalize the new postal service reform law.

            Thank you for your time and consideration of this critical issue. I look forward to continuing to work with you on this important matter.

                                                            Sincerely,

                                                           Patrick Meehan
                                                           Member of Congress

###