Northern Nevada’s push to keep mail processing services local took center stage for a few minutes during a senate hearing on USPS oversight.
Senator Jacky Rosen (D) from Nevada asked Postmaster General and USPS CEO Louis DeJoy to provide evidence supporting USPS’s plan that would downsize the mail processing center in Reno and move operations to Sacramento.
“I’d like to understand what analysis you undertook to conclude that moving mail processing from Reno to Sacramento would actually benefit Nevadans,” she said.
Rosen gave DeJoy little time to respond to her questions. He noted that the move would impact 10% of customers, and Rosen cut him off.
“So you want to sacrifice 10% of my folks in rural Nevada,” she said.
The proposal is part of a larger “Delivering for America” plan that USPS rolled out in 2021. Reno is not the first to face the prospect of losing its local processing center for regional consolidation. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) from Georgia said that people in his state have been dealing with the fallout of regional consolidation for months.
“You don’t have months to fix 36% of the mail being delivered on time,” he told the Postmaster General. “I’ve got constituents with prescriptions that aren’t being delivered.”
The Postal Regulatory Commission has also opposed aspects of the plan.
“One might assume that lower standards, operational changes, and slower service have allowed the postal service to cut spending, improve efficiency, and become self-sustaining. They have not up to this point,” said the chairman, the honorable Michael Kubayanda.
Despite facing tense lines of questioning from Senators, DeJoy stood his ground and said that customers need to give the USPS time to work out problems with regional consolidation of processing centers.
“This is an organization that has not engaged in change in over 15 years,” he said. “Those two plants, Richmond and Atlanta and the whole Georgia area, will be the finest running parts of the organization very shortly.”
Following the meeting Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto sent out a statement saying she agrees with Rosen and will continue to fight for Reno’s mail processing center.
Governor Joe Lombardo released a letter to the senate committee saying he is also concerned about moving mail processing operations to Sacramento, and USPS has not addressed his concerns.
