October 20, 2015
On Tuesday, local government officials took a tour of the United States Post Office processing center that closed down in April.
The mayors of Pocatello and Chubbuck along with representatives from Senator Crapo’s office, postal officials from Pocatello and Salt Lake City and the executive director of Old Town Pocatello toured the Flandro Drive facility.
Officials have been working to have the processing center reopen. To this part, local officials will be travelling to Washington D.C. later this month to address the issue with postal and government officials in Washington. Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad says that the closure of the processing center in April is hurting the rural parts of the region.
Mayor Brian Blad, Pocatello, “The standard is two to three days. But reality is that it’s taking 30 to 33 to 34 days before people are getting their mail back. And where it’s gummed up in the cog, I don’t know. I do know that it goes into Pocatello, Pocatello sends it off.
Then it hits Salt Lake, I don’t know what they do with it. No disrespect to the postal workers in Salt Lake, but our mail is not being turned around like it should be.”
UPDATE – Tuesday night, Brian Sperry, the U.S.P.S. Regional Spokesman sent KPVI News this response:
U.S. Postal Service District Manager Darrell Stoke met today with Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad for a tour of the Pocatello mail processing facility.
As we have previously announced to the Mayor’s office and our valued customers in southeast Idaho, the U.S. Postal Service revised service standards in January 2015 implementing a two-day delivery standard for local First-Class mail. This was a national change, not one affecting only Pocatello. Mail volumes in the Pocatello area have decreased dramatically over the past few years, following national trends, with letter mail down by more than 20 percent during that period. Simply stated, letter mail continues to shrivel and our role in visiting America’s doorsteps – including here in Idaho – is increasingly to effect package delivery and our operations network must reflect that change. In the process, the Postal Service has sought to minimize impact to customers and employees.
While most mail processing operations moved to Salt Lake City in April, the Gateway Station continues to process mail for delivery on Pocatello’s carrier routes, and remains open as a Post Office, transportation hub and Bulk Mail Entry Unit. Mr. Stoke reassured Mayor Blad the Postal Service would continue to work hard to deliver the best possible mail service for all customers. If individuals are having a particular service issue, they should contact the Postal Service either by calling 1-800-ASK-USPS or visit us on our website at usps.com/help. The Postal Service will continue to work with customers to ensure their mail arrives at its destination as quickly as possible. Our goal is always to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.
Source: Officials Tour Flandro Drive USPS Processing Center – KPVI News 6 – Pocatello, ID