CASPER — Forcing a national template for change on rural Wyoming to downgrade the Casper’s U.S. Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center and farm out services to Montana is a bad idea, local told USPS officials Wednesday.
They also questioned the timing of the hearing, 3-5 p.m., which they said was orchestrated to keep people who work regular hours from chiming in on the plan.
Even so, the afternoon window didn’t stop a host of area postal workers in union shirts, city residents and a representative from the office of Wyoming U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis from filling a conference room with 120 seats to standing room only.
“This administration seems to target in on Wyoming,” said Mila Adamson of Casper, the mother of a postal worker. “First, it is the oil and gas industry, then it is the coal industry, and now it’s our post office. They do not care about rural Wyoming or the hard-working Americans in this room. And this meeting should have been after 5 o’clock.”
None of the audience members spoke in support for the talking points delivered by U.S. Postal Services Director for Western Processing Operations Felipe Flores.
He started off reading from a script with an accompanying PowerPoint presentation. Flores talked about the local impact of the postal service’s 10-year Delivery for America program, an agency “facility review” and “resources and strategies to improve customer service and to achieve significant cost saving through operational precision and efficiency.”
One of those strategies includes moving local processing of mail from the only two post offices in Wyoming that do that in Casper and Cheyenne. Along with Casper’s moving to Billings, Montana, another proposal calls for Cheyenne’s to move to Denver.
Billings Route Questioned
Residents challenged Flores on the efficiency of putting a letter in the mailbox for someone on the other side of Casper, then having that letter go first to Billings before it’s returned back to Casper for delivery.
Casper resident Jill Reed said she worked for years in the oil business traveling the state as a landman.
“And the only time that I have ever been stuck sleeping in a vehicle was on the road to Billings, Montana,” she said. “This was back in the mid-’80s and there were hundreds of cars. So, I just want to bring this to your attention that this is not a safe route.”
Flores told the crowd only about 8% of the outgoing mail from Casper addresses is headed for a local destination. He said the Billings Processing and Distribution Center will be well-equipped to process packages and letters that are bound for delivery outside the state.
“Local mail will not be delayed under this plan, while this type of mail would travel first to Billings and be processed prior to returning to the LPC, it is important to know that local mail has a two-day standard, not an overnight standard,” he said. “And this mail would continue to be processed and delivered in two days.
“In fact, these changes will make our processes more efficient (and) dependable because most of this mail does not stay in the area but is destined to other regions.”
He said combining Casper mail volume with other communities in Billings will create flats full of mail and mail trucks that don’t have wasted space.
Money Savings Projections
Along with converting the Casper facility to a Local Processing Center, Flores said the Postal Service plans to invest between $6 million and $8 million in the facility.
The business case presented showed the Postal Service hopes the changes will save up to $240,000 in mail processing costs, $300,000 in maintenance costs, $2.5 million in transportation costs and $120,000 in management costs.
Flores said there will be no “layoffs of career employees.” But postal union representatives challenged him about job losses for those classified as “pre-career” staff who work part-time and cover on weekends, as well as the opportunities for career staff.
“The truth is that many of the employees from Cheyenne and Casper, as well as nationwide, are going to pay for the option of giving up their family, friends and homes in order to relocate (to keep) their jobs with the USPS,” said Ricci Roberts, postal union branch president for mail handlers in Cheyenne. “A four-hour drive from Casper to Billings is not one that can be commuted.”
As a local processing facility, Flores said plans call for mail that is currently processed in Denver for local Casper-area ZIP codes to be processed in Casper.
A hearing on proposed changes to the U.S. Postal Service’s Casper Processing and Distribution Center drew a full crowd at a north-side Casper hotel on Wednesday. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
U.S. Postal Services Director for Western Processing Operations Felipe Flores addresses the crowd on Wednesday. He faced many skeptics. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Congressional Delegation’s Input
Jackie King, state director for Lummis’ office, told those gathered to “comment with substance on the proposal.”
She said her office knows that in Afton, Wyoming, population 2,172, where letters and packages are now sent to Salt Lake City to be processed, it takes a week for Afton-to-Afton mail.
King quoted from a letter sent to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy from the three members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation that commended some of the USPS plans for structural and operational improvements, but challenged its goals for Cheyenne and Casper.
“Stripping Wyoming of these processing services places our state’s operations on unequal footing compared to other states,” they wrote. “Wyoming’s mail deserves to be processed in Wyoming.”
King told the Cowboy State Daily that Lummis, along with U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and Rep. Harriet Hageman, have asked for a meeting with DeJoy to share concerns and get answers about the Delivering for America plan as it relates to Wyoming.
Others at the meeting reminded Postal Services representatives of the need for many in the Casper community who receive medications through the mail to get them on time. They again questioned the wisdom of choosing Billings because of Wyoming’s weather conditions during the winter.
Wyoming’s Rural Difference
National Postal Mail Handlers Local 321 state executive board member Robert Jacknitsky said statistics show the Postal Service is failing as it downsizes. On-time delivery of first-class mail was at 91.2% in January 2023 and has dropped to 84% in January 2024.
He emphasized the USPS is trying a “one-size-fits-all” approach that won’t work in Wyoming.
“We don’t fit into that because we are 90% rural,” he said. He also questioned the Postal Service’s plan for Wyoming mail-in ballots.
“They have not figured out a way to ensure that mail-in ballots will not leave the state,” he said.
Felipe told Cowboy State Daily that the Postal Service will be ready for mail-in voting in Wyoming.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray has questioned the impact of moving both of Wyoming’s Processing and Distribution Centers out of state on elections.
“Extraordinary measures are going to be taking place,” Filipe said. “We don’t have them yet in place, but once we do have them, we will explain that to the public. But there is going to be extraordinary measures on ballots.”
The Postal Service will continue to take comments online about its plan for Casper’s facility through May.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
