PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Members of Illinois’ Democratic federal contingent have written to the head of the U.S. Postal Service, asking him to explain why he wants to close mail processing centers in Champaign, Peoria, Milan, and Springfield.
U.S. Sens. Richard “Dick” Durbin and Tammy Duckworth were joined by U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley, Eric Sorensen and Nikki Budzinski wrote to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, urging him to reconsider his decision to eliminate the Processing and Distribution Centers.
Postal Service seeking feedback on possibly moving mail processing out of PeoriaThe lawmakers argued that doing so would exacerbate delayed mail delivery in the state. In 2023, they noted, the average on-time delivery of First-Class mail nationally dropped to 85.4%, down from an already historic low of 91% the previous year.
USPS set to modernize, repurpose Peoria post office“The initial findings in these reviews support a shift from P&DC operations to smaller local processing centers (LPCs). We are concerned this may cause communities to lose both jobs and reliability of mail service. For example, the initial findings for the P&DC facility in Milan, Illinois, support moving processing facilities to Des Moines, Iowa.
“For a senior receiving medication by mail from their local pharmacy, that’s a round trip of nearly 350 miles for one prescription. The idea that these changes would improve delivery runs counter to reality,” the lawmakers wrote.
READ: The letter sent by the lawmakersThe postal service provides medications, financial transactions, and information to Americans at every address in the country, they wrote. As such, there should be more consideration given to making sure mail arrives on time.
The lawmakers asked for data on how getting rid of the centers would improve delivery times as well as information on how the postal service will do the downsizing including whether they offer jobs to career employees?
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