USPS opens one of the first mega-regional distribution centers near Charlotte

A new, massive Charlotte-area postal distribution facility is one of two North Carolina sites that will be “the backbone” of the U.S. Postal Service’s 10-year, $40 billion plan to modernize how mail is delivered across the country.

The Charlotte Regional Processing and Distribution Center is up and running at 524 Scaleybark Road in Gastonia, just west of Charlotte. It’s one of the first regional plants to open in the U.S. and will be the template for 60 facilities planned nationwide, USPS spokesman Jeffery Adams said.

The nearly 700,000-square-foot center facility started operating in phases over the last two weeks, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told The Charlotte Observer during a tour of the site on Thursday. DeJoy was appointed postmaster general in 2020.

He noted how the postal system is competing for business with FedEx, UPS and other regional package carriers. “Our goal is to become the preferred delivery provider in the nation,” DeJoy said. “We just have to reconfigure a lot.”

The Gastonia project started about 15 months ago, DeJoy said, and is now getting mail from downtown Charlotte plants.

Another North Carolina regional plant is planned in Greensboro as part of DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” plan announced two years ago to transform the postal service.

Over the next 18 months, DeJoy said $200 million will be invested in North Carolina between the Gastonia and Greensboro plants, and updating other sites. DeJoy declined to say how much will be invested in the Gastonia facility. But About half of that — $100 million — will be invested in the Gaston County distribution center and other facility upgrades in Charlotte.

“This new strategy will reduce redundant operations and transportation across the nation, saving us both time and money,” DeJoy said last year when announcing the plan.

USPS regional centers service improvements

The postal service has about 500 regional distribution plants across the country.

DeJoy’s plan calls for closing many delivery units, annexes and plants to instead create mega-centers that process, sort and send out mail for delivery under one roof. That includes opening 60 centralized centers equipped to handle the surging volume of packages since the pandemic.

“The aim is to increase speed, reduce costs and improve our service,” DeJoy said. “It’s not easy right now. We have old facilities, we have old equipment, built for 40 years ago. We’re trying to modernize that.”

DeJoy said when he took over during the pandemic, the postal service was projected to run out of cash in 60 days. He said his strategy has reduced projected losses from $160 billion to about $70 billion.

Gastonia site is central to growth

The Gastonia Regional Processing & Distribution Center will serve as far south as Columbia and west to Johnson City, Tennessee.

“(It was) one of the first ones we selected based on the analytics, looking at all the different traffic coming into and out of the Southeast,” DeJoy said.

Interstate 85 is an ideal location, he said, to support growth in the Carolinas outside of Charlotte, and NorthPoint Development’s 365-acre industrial park between Gastonia and Lowell was available for the new distribution center.

Updating postal facilities NC

Other existing postal facilities will be repurposed, DeJoy said.

For example the downtown Charlotte site will become a sorting and delivery center with about 250 carriers and new package equipment. “We were handling 20 million packages a day by hand” at the Charlotte site, DeJoy said. “It’s time to use conveyors.”

Through the years, the postal service had expanded annexes while other buildings have fallen into disrepair and are dark. “We’re out to fix all of that,” DeJoy said.

Hiring for long-term careers

The U.S. Postal Service has about 20,000 employees in North Carolina, including 5,000 in the Charlotte region.

The Gastonia plant will have 700 to 1,000 workers. Hiring is underway with over 400 employees hired as of last week.

The U.S. Postal Service has 516,760 workers, according to the agency’s website.

Delivering mail quickly and efficiently

Although the Gastonia plant won’t be fully operational for the upcoming holidays, DeJoy said as of now, 98% of customers are getting their packages within two to three days.

Another new services include Ground Advantage, which offers delivery within five days across the country. DeJoy expects to see more products and services, plus new initiatives such as having some all-electric vehicles in Charlotte in the near future.