No more Columbia postmark? That could happen, says postal workers union leader

Imagine it is your birthday and you receive a gift from an out-of-state friend. While it would be just as easy to call your friend and thank them, you are a little old school and like sending out thank-you notes and cards.

So you write them a note, leave it for your mail carrier or put it in a drop box while running errands. The expectation is that this note will get processed locally before going on to its destination.

Columbia postal workers are raising the alarm about a United States Postal Service 10-year-plan that could soon consolidate mail service distribution to St. Louis for all outgoing mail from Columbia.

The Postal Service aims to end area mail processing and move processing and distribution to regional hubs and is studying that possibility for Columbia.

A public meeting was held Nov. 16 with the stated goals of what could happen with the service consolidation. The Postal Service is accepting public comments online through Dec. 1.

This doesn't eliminate local processing and distribution, so a letter a person sends across town will remain in Columbia. Any letters or packages sent outside of city limits could soon have a St. Louis rather than a Columbia postmark, however.

So, Erin Linn, vice president of Central Missouri Area Local 7065 of the American Postal Workers Union, created a Change.org petition to keep area distribution and processing local.

"They are updating the postal process and delivery network nationally. Columbia will be repositioned as a local processing center," Linn said in a follow-up phone call Nov. 17, adding this includes standardizing designs and workflow.

The trouble is all the equipment used locally is also what is used in St. Louis, she said.

She warns in the petition that this could lead to mail delivery delays because of the volume of mail that will end up in St. Louis as a regional hub. The Postal Service does not think this is the case, Linn said, reading from meeting materials.

"It is always better to not ... process all the mail in one facility," she wrote in petition information.

The Postal Service sees this consolidation as a means to save money in processing, maintenance, transportation and management costs.

At a bare minimum, there could be an employment impact for 23; two management positions and 21 support positions that are not career-centered positions.

"These are postal support employees and mail handler assistants," Linn said. These are positions that have more regular turnover, and don't have all the benefits of regular full-time employees, she added.

A frequently asked questions document shared with the Tribune from the U.S. Postal Service stated the study's intent "is to make more efficient use of Postal Service resources — equipment, facilities, staffing and transportation."

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: US Postal Service considers changes to Columbia mail processing