Public input sought for review of Champaign's largest post office

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CHAMPAIGN — The U.S. Postal Service will consider the community's feedback in its review of a local post office's operations.

The agency is conducting a review of the Champaign Processing and Distribution Center at 2001 N. Mattis Ave., U.S. Postal Service spokesman Tim Norman said.

According to a notice from the Postal Service, members of the local community can submit comments at surveymonkey.com/r/mpfr-champaign-il.

"If the facility review supports the business case for change to the facility's processing operations, USPS will hold a public meeting to allow members of the local community to provide additional feedback," officials wrote.

A summary of the review will be posted on about.usps.com at least one week prior to the public-input meeting.

A list of facilities undergoing reviews — along with related documents such as initial findings and public-meeting notices — is available at about.usps.com/what/strategic-plans/mpfr/welcome.htm. Peoria's processing and distribution center is also under review.

According to an FAQ document about the Champaign review, studies are only just now beginning, and the agency anticipates sharing its initial findings in the next month or two.

The review of the Champaign facility is part of the Postal Service's 10-year, $40 billion strategic Delivering for America Plan to "modernize" its network, officials said. The review will not result in the facility's closure or career employee layoffs.

"This specific facility review will inform the best allocation of resources and strategies to improve customer service and to achieve significant cost savings through operational precision and efficiency," the agency stated. "Business mail entry, post office, station and branch retail services are not expected to change, and delivery services will be unaffected throughout this review. The modernization evaluation is a first step in the Postal Service review and investment process in this facility."

During the review, the Postal Service will evaluate three main pieces. The first is whether efficiency could be enhanced by transferring some of the mail-processing operations performed at the Champaign center to the South Suburban and Chicago regional processing and distribution centers.

"A significant percentage of the mail collected in Champaign will travel across our wider transportation and processing network over significant distances to reach their final destinations," officials said. "Mail and packages destined for outside the Champaign area may receive better service and be more cost effectively distributed by aggregating it with mail and packages from other areas going to the same places that will likewise utilize the wider postal network and be transported significant distances from where the mail originated."

Additionally, the Postal Service will work to determine whether operations can be improved by investing in the Champaign facility to redesign mail processing to "accommodate changing mail products and mail flow with modern operating strategies, equipment and improved employee amenities."

The review will also consider whether efficiency or service can be enhanced by expanding operations at the facility. This could include adding sorting and delivery functions, incorporating expanded retail functions and/or "increasing local package-delivery functions including local transportation initiatives supporting new products being introduced."

"While it may be determined that moving some mail-processing operations from the Champaign P&DC is a good business decision, it is highly likely under those circumstances that the Champaign facility will be modernized and repurposed as a Local Processing Center, a Sorting and Delivery Center or both, consistent with the broader network redesign," Postal Service officials said. "Any such repurposing will result in a revitalized, modernized and upgraded facility with improved employee amenities and a better working environment."

Local Processing Centers are "critical nodes" in the Postal Service's end-to-end network model, the agency said, providing a connection between Regional Processing and Distribution Centers and Sorting and Delivery Centers.

"Within a region, S&DCs will expand our network reach," officials added, saying they will "aggregate delivery units into fewer, larger and centrally located sites to provide faster and more reliable mail and package delivery over a greater geographic area, as compared to traditional delivery units."