Dear Editor,
The U.S. Postal Service’s Provo processing center is scheduled for closure in July 2015. Central and southern Utah will be impacted the greatest. All mail from Delta to Fillmore to Provo will be processed in Salt Lake. All mail from Price to Blanding to Moab will be processed in Grand Junction, Colorado. And all mail from Richfield to Kanab to St. George will be processed in Las Vegas. Mail will now take one week or longer for delivery to all of these towns.
In implementing these changes, they have ignored the pleas of 51 senators, including Orrin Hatch, and 178 members of the House of Representatives who asked for a one-year moratorium in service cuts and the closure and consolidation of mail processing facilities. Ruth Goldway, Postal Regulatory Commissioner since 1998, criticized the latest service cuts, and said, “The Postal Service is required to give the highest consideration to the requirement for the expeditious collection, transportation, and delivery of important letter mail.”
This burden falls particularly hard on individuals in rural America and those who have limited or no access to the Internet. They do not pay their bills online; they pay their mortgage and other payments by mail. This slower delivery will subject those who pay by mail to incur late fees. Anyone who receives government assistance of any kind will have delivery of pay cards, vouchers, and checks delayed by days, meaning financial hardship for those in need. Small businesses that are dependent on billing and remittances by mail will suffer with poor cash flow. Many people order prescriptions by mail, and any delay in this process can have a huge negative impact on the health and well-being of people across America. The Postal Service also delivers millions of parcels daily for Fed Ex and UPS and these deliveries will also be delayed and cause frustration to the consumer.
Jason Chaffetz needs to exert his power as chairman of the House Oversight Committee to push through the legislation contained in House Resolution 54 to relieve the Postal Service of the undue burden of the pre-funding requirement. And pass legislation keeping service standards at the July 1, 2012 levels and keeping processing centers open.
America needs the Postal Service to keep commerce moving as it is a valuable part of our way of life.
