Federal legislation reintroduced by an Illinois Democrat would cause a reevaluation of changes to postal service in Peoria.
Sen. Dick Durbin called for renewed attention to the Postal Processing Protection Act on Monday, along with bipartisan support from Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota. The legislation is a direct response to the U.S. Postal Service [USPS] plans to shift some mail processing services from rural locations to larger regional facilities.
The changes are a part of a 10-year, $40 million transformation plan implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who plans to leave the position this year. DeJoy’s Delivering for America Plan initiated “Mail Processing Facility Reviews” across the country.
In Peoria, it meant the development of a plan to move some processing duties from the postal service’s State Street facility to suburban Chicago. A letter mailed from Peoria to a recipient also in Peoria would now travel more than 100 miles to a sorting center in Bedford Park, then be sorted and returned to Peoria for delivery under the plan.
The plan would also prepare the Peoria facility for $8 to $10 million in upgrades.
“If I drop a piece of mail off in Springfield to go across town, why should it have to go all the way to St. Louis and back? Postmaster General DeJoy’s ‘Delivering for America’ plan, which included downsizing three mail processing centers in our state, is decimating a service that Illinoisans rely on,” Durbin said in a statement.
“I’m joining Senator Rounds to reintroduce the Postal Processing Protection Act to ensure that USPS leadership does its due diligence in studying the impact of consolidating or altering mail processing and shipping facilities before crippling critical USPS locations.”
The legislation would require the postal service to do a study on the impact of downsizing or closing facilities in rural areas before taking any action. Supporters of the bill say a similar study is already required before closing a post office with a storefront and should be extended to processing centers.
The USPS estimated savings between $1.7 million and $2.2 million in the first year of changes at the Peoria location, with an estimated nationwide savings of $3 billion. However, critics remain skeptical of claims that the proposals won’t lead to slower deliveries and changes to jobs.
Some members of postal worker unions believe the changes lay the groundwork for future privatization of the public service.
In May 2024, after multiple rounds of letters with questions and concerns from federal and state lawmakers, DeJoy put the changes on hold through at least January 2025.
