USPS Abandons Nine More AMP Studies

The Postal Service has notified the APWU that it has cancelled nine more Area Mail Processing studies.

In a statement on Feb. 9, the Postal Service told the APWU that “it has been determined that there are currently no significant opportunities to improve efficiency or service through consolidation of mail processing operations” in: Carroll, IA; Glenwood Springs, CO; Hutchinson, KS; McCook, NE; Sheridan and Wheatland, WY; Fox Valley, IL; and Bryan and McAllen, TX.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) sent out a news release celebrating the decision in McAllen. “I am pleased that I will still be able to write my friends,” Doggett wrote, referring to his constituents, “without having those letters delayed by a stopover in Corpus Christi.”

The “stopover” is 160 miles from McAllen. Tests done by the congressman’s office found that mail sent from McAllen on Saturdays (when processing takes place in Corpus Christi) could take six to 10 days longer to arrive than mail sent during the week.

Keith Patridge, president of the McAllen Development Corp., said that relocating mail sorting would have stunted economic growth in the area. “Businesses have to mail out bills and payments,” he told the daily Monitor. Long delays “could be almost an unbearable obstacle.”

The addition of the facilities listed in the Feb. 9 statement brings to 12 the number of AMPs cancelled this year and means that 23 of approximately 55 studies begun since October 2005 have been halted or placed on indefinite hold.

“We are pleased that so many of these ill-advised studies have been abandoned,” said APWU President William Burrus. “This is a direct result of the efforts of postal workers and community leaders, who have demanded that individuals and small businesses continue to receive the postal services they deserve.”