e-Team Report, May 12, 2015

Rural Senators Question PMG on Service & Closures

U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp brought together a bipartisan meeting of solely Senators from rural states to speak with the U.S. Postmaster General about the impact that mail processing facility closures and service standard reductions have had on families and communities throughout rural America.

Heitkamp, a member of the Senate Committee which oversees the U.S. Postal Service, brought together U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-MT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Gary Peters (D-MI), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Jerry Moran (R-KS) to raise awareness about declining postal standards and the effects of closing mail processing facilities in rural communities across their states with U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan.

During the meeting, Heitkamp spoke about how the Postal Service is not meeting mail service standards throughout rural communities, highlighting how she has heard from North Dakotans through her Fix My Mail initiative that mail delivery times in the state are often three or four times longer than standards set by the agency.

The Senators took turns questioning the effectiveness of closing mail processing centers without a thorough understanding of the effects on rural communities. The Postal Service committed to working on these issues to specifically better meet the needs of rural Americans. Brennan also said she would provide an assessment of the savings the Postal Service claims it gets from closing mail processing centers. Heitkamp also stressed that closing these processing centers further hurts rural communities and likely does not save as much as the Postal Service thought the closures would.

National Day of Action May 14th

Our national day of action is coming up fast and there are over 100 events scheduled nationwide. “I Stand with Postal Workers.”  Actions range from rallies to press conferences to getting postcards signed outside post offices.

Click here to find an event near you.