The future of USPS in Peoria will include transparency
.................................. kgaston@pjstar.com
To save the Postal Service, or not save it: That’s the crisis – and the question – the Postal Service faced that led to the creation of its 10-year Delivering for America plan in March of 2021. In the three years since, our organization has been working to recover from operational and financial catastrophe. In the summer of 2020, we had incurred $137 billion in losses and our organization was going to run out of cash in 60 days. We had 30-year-old vehicles and had deferred over $20 billion in maintenance for our infrastructure, which led to shameful workplaces. Even more shocking, there was no plan to deal with this dire situation that would create a self-sustaining, reliable Postal Service that could effectively serve Americans for years to come.
That is why nearly three years ago, our organization launched the Delivering for America plan – a $40 billion investment strategy to upgrade and enhance the Postal Service’s processing, distribution and transportation network. As a part of this plan, we are proposing significant updates to our facility here in Peoria. As the Postal Service continues to review its local operations, I want to lay out the facts of what we are doing:
First, we are not closing the Peoria facility. We will convert it into a local processing center and the Postal Service intends on investing between $8 million and $10 million into it. These investments include up to $4 million in facility improvements and $5 million for infrastructure investments that will allow the Peoria facility to house new delivery vehicles, including electric vehicles, that will improve reliability and efficiency, and lower our carbon footprint.
Second, the Postal Service will not be laying off any career employees as a part of this review. Our efforts will improve the workplace by providing our employees with new amenities – like updated lighting, renovated bathrooms and break rooms. We are also providing more opportunities for non-career employees to become career employees – and in the last three years, more than 165,000 pre-career employees have converted to career. If any changes ultimately affect our pre-career workforce in the facility, that is the very nature of a flexible workforce category.
Third and finally, our modernization efforts will have no effect on services here in Peoria. Our initial review found that converting the Peoria facility into an LPC would allow mail and packages to move more seamlessly through our network, thereby enhancing services to residents and businesses. Under this plan, local mail would not be affected. The vast majority of local mail travels out of state, and local-to-local mail will stay within the current twoto three-day delivery standard. Moreover, modernizing our Peoria facility would allow it to be colocated with a new sorting and delivery center. These massive facilities offer enhanced mail and package delivery services and allow the Postal Service to cover a larger geographical area with increased speed and reliability. S&DCs also incorporate the latest advancements in self-service tools and technology, expanding the range of services available to local businesses and customers and providing them with new options for shipping and receiving packages.
The Postal Service remains committed to the transparency we have applied throughout the network modernization process.
Tim Norman works for USPS Strategic Communications, Illinois 1 and Illinois 2 districts.