Postal Service Cancels Another AMP Study

The APWU won another battle in the fight against misguided “network realignment” plans when the USPS announced the end of a study aimed at consolidating mail processing operations in Yakima (WA) with those in Pasco, 85 miles away.

Saying that the proposed consolidation would not result in improved service or efficiency, the Postal Service announced on Jan. 22 that the Area Mail Processing study begun in December 2005 would not be completed. The central Washington city of Yakima will keep its mail processing operations and its postmark.

The plan had been to send all of Yakima’s outgoing mail to Pasco, even if it was only going to be returned to Yakima. The postmark for Yakima-to-Yakima mail would have been “ Pasco.”

James Keck, President of the Yakima Area Local said that although only five full-time jobs were at stake, it was an important issue for the community. The local had been circulating petitions and had enlisted the assistance of U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings (a Republican from Pasco) and Sen. Patty Murray (D).

Sen. Murray had inserted language into an appropriations bill that would have prevented the Postal Service from moving Yakima’s outgoing mail operations until an independent review had been conducted.

Earlier in January, the Postal Service cancelled AMPs in Helena, MT, and Kinston, NC. And in late November, it ended speculation about consolidation of a P&DC in Pensacola, FL, across state lines to Mobile, AL.

The Pensacola facility had not been the subject of an AMP study, but had appeared in a “hit list” of 139 facilities distributed among USPS officials about three years ago. Nearly all of the facilities that were the subject of AMP studies that began in October 2005 — including Yakima, Helena, and Kinston — had appeared on the larger list.