The U.S. Postal Service announced plans Wednesday night to close 252 of its 487 mail processing centers, including five in Wisconsin.
As a result of studies begun five months ago, the Postal Service has decided to move the work at its Wausau Processing and Distribution Facility (P&DF) to its Green Bay Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC). The work of its P&DF centers in Eau Claire and La Crosse will be moved to St. Paul, Minn.
Once the transfer is completed, the mail processing operation in these facilities will cease.
In addition, the remaining mail operations at the Kenosha Customer Service Mail Processing Center (CSMPC) will be moved to the Milwaukee P&DC, and the work at the Portage CSMPC will be moved to the Madison P&DC.
There will be no change to the retail operations or the Business Mail Entry Unit operations at these facilities at this time.
The Postal Service has experienced a 25 percent decline in First-Class Mail volume since 2006, and receives no tax dollars for its operations, relying instead on the sale of postage, and postal products and services.
The closures are expected to slow the pace of delivery of mail.
"The decision to consolidate mail processing facilities recognizes the urgent need to reduce the size of the national mail processing network to eliminate costly underutilized infrastructure," said Postal Service chief operating officer Megan Brennan."Consolidating operations is necessary if the Postal Service is to remain viable to provide mail service to the nation."
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service plans to step up patrols at hundreds of mail processing facilities in the coming days in anticipation of potentially adverse reactions by workers as they learn whether their facility is slated to close.
Decisions about the future of individual post offices have not been finalized, a spokesman said.
Postal Service to close 252 mail processing centers
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