Letter to John E. Potter, U. S. Postmaster General

Letter to John E. Potter, U. S. Postmaster General

February 2, 2006

Mr. John E. Potter
Postmaster General
United States Postal Service
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW Room 10022
Washington, D.C. 20260-0010

Dear Postmaster General Potter,

We are writing to express our concern about the Area Mail Processing review of the Sioux City mail processing operations that is currently underway. While we appreciate your having made Senior Vice President of Operations Bill Galligan available to meet with Senator Harkin, Congressman King, a representative from Senator Grassley's office, and a delegation of Siouxland community and business leaders on January 26th, 2006, many questions remain unanswered.

Although this review process is supposed to allow for stakeholder input, Siouxland postal customers, businesses, and concerned citizens have not been included in this review process and as a result have brought numerous concerns to us that have not yet been considered by the Postal Service. We remain extremely concerned that not including this information could
taint the final outcome.

Despite the meeting, we still lack a clear understanding of the criteria used by the Postal Service in making its mail processing consolidation decisions. Our constituents, who had traveled from Iowa to Washington, were also not given a clear timeline of when to expect a final decision. Perhaps most important of all, our local postal customers and businesses have received no explanation of likely delays and degradations in service that would result from consolidation.

As a result we request that:

· a set of the criteria used by the Postal Service in undertaking its Area Mail Processing process be provided to us;

· prior to a final decision, the Postal Service complete a service audit comparable to that being performed in the Las Cruces, New Mexico area, as requested by Senator Harkin and agreed to by Mr. Galligan;

· the Postal Service provide the local community with the opportunity to review the study and in turn provide a competing study with viable alternatives for consideration before a final decision is reached, as requested by Congressman King; and

· prior to final approval by the Postal Service the following information be made available to the public: the estimated annual cost savings of a consolidation, including the cost of moving the facility, capital investment and transition costs and increased transportation costs; jobs and job changes that might occur as a result of the consolidation; the impact on service for local businesses that rely on the processing center for the quick and efficient delivery of mail; and the impact on individuals who rely on the mail for vital services, such as mail order prescriptions. This information is critical to any real understanding of whether the final proposal is efficient and cost conscious.

Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to a process that includes increased communication between the Postal Service and Siouxland leaders and stakeholders.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the above requests please contact Beth Stein with Senator Harkin and Paula Steiner with Congressman King. We look forward to your prompt response.

Senator Chuck Grassley Congressman Steve King
Senator Tom Harkin Congressman Jim Nussle
Congressman Jim Leach Congressman Leonard Boswell
Congressman Tom Latham

http://grassley.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=5000&Month=2&Year=2006