Postal service says consolidation could save $1.6 million

Consolidation of outgoing mail in the U.S. Postal Service’s Lynchburg district to a processing facility in Roanoke could save the postal service an estimated $1.6 million per year, officials told a crowd at a public meeting at Brookville High school Monday night.

The public meeting was called as part of the USPS Area Mail Processing plan to decrease operating costs in response to a 20 percent decrease nationwide in mail volume between 2007 and 2010. Between 50 and 60 people attended.

USPS Appalachian District Manager Robert Cavinder told the crowd processing plants in Roanoke and Lynchburg are operating below capacity. Cavinder said a study has shown that outgoing mail from Lynchburg could be trucked to Roanoke for processing without a delay in delivery times.

He said Roanoke was selected because all of Lynchburg’s mail could be processed there, but all of Roanoke’s mail could not be processed in Lynchburg. The Lynchburg center processes mail from Amherst and parts of Nelson counties south to Danville and South Boston.

Officials promised no changes in retail hours, delivery times, business mail or drop shipments, although there may be increased limits on guaranteed overnight delivery to some areas. Local mail will still be processed locally and local postmarks will remain available should the consolidation be implemented.

Ten workers at the Lynchburg center whose jobs would be eliminated would be employed elsewhere according to union agreements.

Terry Wood, president of the Lynchburg American Postal Workers Union 1602, said he is concerned those officials won’t be able to deliver on that promise. A study might show Roanoke could handle the additional volume of Lynchburg-area mail on an average night, Wood said, but the concentration of direct-mail companies here sometimes magnifies the mail volume five-fold — enough to choke Roanoke’s processing.

He said that could cause delays in items such as mail-order pharmaceuticals and public-assistance checks.

“It’s not true that the mail will be delayed,” Cavinder responded, adding that consolidation programs have been successful elsewhere in Virginia and West Virginia, including Charlottesville last year.

John Prokity, senior plant manager for the USPS district said large volumes of “standard” mail, usually presorted business mail, rarely cause delays in first-class mail delivery in Roanoke or Lynchburg.

The postal service has not said when it will make a decision on the consolidation proposal.

Public comments on the proposal mailed on or before Feb. 8 to the Consumer Affairs Manager, USPS Appalachian District, P.O. Box 59631, Charleston, WV 25350 will be considered. More information is available at usps.com/all/amp.htm.