No lay-offs or re-routing mail amid concern from South Dakota lawmakers

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - As part of its “Delivering for America” plan, the United States Postal Service is reviewing every processing and distribution center in the country. Now, South Dakota lawmakers are calling for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to avoid downsizing and re-organizing mail processing operations in the Mount Rushmore State.

According to United States Postal Service Strategic Communications Manager Mark Inglett, the Sioux Falls Processing and Distribution Center has been selected as part of a $40 billion investment strategy to improve the overall process of mail delivery nationwide.

Last Friday, Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds along with Representative Dusty Johnson sent a letter expressing concern over the potential downsizing and re-organization of distribution centers which Johnson said has caused issues in the past.

“But the last time the Postal Service moved a bunch of processing out of South Dakota mail delivery times went in the wrong direction. So we’re concerned now that they’re going to move more processing out of South Dakota to Omaha, to Fargo that that could create even more problems,” Johnson said.

Johnson emphasized the concern he and his co-sponsors have isn’t about the number of jobs that could potentially disappear, but rather about creating consistency in the jobs already established.

“Not necessarily are there X jobs or are there X plus 15 percent jobs. It’s are they getting the job done? We have seen that service has headed in the wrong direction in the last few years. We want to make sure that these staffing cutbacks don’t impact our ability to have a reliable and affordable mail service,” Johnson said.

Inglett told KOTA Territory News that despite the concern from lawmakers the postal service has no plans to shut down any facilities or to downsize in any way. He noted that the exact opposite is happening with more job openings being created as well as a plan to modernize current facilities.

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