WASHINGTON, D.C. [07/02/14]—Today, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) pressed the U.S Postal Service to reconsider its plan to close four mail processing centers throughout Minnesota. The closures, he said, will hurt Minnesota’s rural communities and drive more and more customers away from using the Postal Service.
In a letter to the Postmaster General sent Wednesday, Sen. Franken said that shutting down these facilities is a shortsighted, irrational plan that will ultimately degrade customer service and cause more harm than good.
“These closures will hurt the communities that house these facilities, and the greater regions that they currently serve,” wrote Sen. Franken in his letter. “I understand that the Postal Service is under severe financial strain… But closing facilities, uprooting employees, and degrading your customer service will only cause more harm. I would therefore urge you to avoid deteriorating mail service in Minnesota and to refrain from closing additional facilities.”
In addition to urging against the closure of four processing centers across Minnesota—in Bemidji, St. Cloud, Mankato, and Duluth—Sen. Franken also called for legislation to reform the Postal Service. Last Congress, Sen. Franken helped push a bipartisan reform bill through the Senate to restore financial stability to the Postal Service. Included in the legislation was an amendment he wrote to prevent closures likes these from happening. The U.S. House of Representatives, however, failed to act on the bill.