WASHINGTON – The United States Postal Service (USPS) is pausing their plans to consolidate and alter its facilities across the country, which would have made changes to its processing and delivery network. In Mississippi, USPS previously announced they would relocate mail sorting processes from Gulfport to Jackson. Mail would have been sent to Jackson and then returned to Gulfport for distribution to mail carriers.

U.S. Senator Roger F. Wicker, R- Miss., joined colleagues in asking the USPS to pause their relocation plans and released the following statement:

“Mississippians have been frustrated with how slowly USPS has delivered their bills, medicine, paychecks, and other personal mail. The Postal Service is already failing to meet their promised two-day delivery times, and this new change could result in Mississippians experiencing even longer delays. I am glad the new system will be paused until we know the impact this decision will have,” Senator Wicker said.

This plan includes moving mail processing further away from local communities, by transferring operations out of local facilities (“Local Processing Centers” and Delivery Units) and into more distant hubs (“Regional Processing and Distribution Centers” and “Sorting and Delivery Centers”). The plan also includes “local transportation optimization,” an initiative that cuts the number of truck trips and mail collections at USPS facilities, causing mail to sit overnight in local offices. USPS begun to implement this change without sufficiently engaging the public, causing critical delays for mail that requires overnight delivery.

The senators asked USPS to request a comprehensive Advisory Opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). This opinion will analyze the full scope of the network changes including changes to local transportation and postal facilities across the nation before moving forward with any such changes.

Read the full letter here.