Local mail processing is going to stay in Wyoming after all, with the U.S. Postal Service announcing Friday an about-face on its controversial plan to move that functionality from Cheyenne to Denver and from Casper to Billings.
The change means local mail originating in Cheyenne or Casper will not travel out of state for sorting before delivery, though the state still won’t get a Regional Processing and Distribution Center.
What is less clear, from the USPS statement announcing the change, is what will happen to mail that goes from one city to another within Wyoming, or from Casper to Cheyenne and vice versa.
USPS spokesman James Boxrud told Cowboy State Daily he could not confirm whether such mail would be processed out of state.
“It’s going to take me a little bit of time to break down the changes versus what we are already doing in Cheyenne and Casper,” he said.
The USPS said its decision to not take away Cheyenne and Casper’s local mail processing capability was made possible by operational savings of around $3 billion annually, as outlined in a request for an advisory opinion filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission on the Delivering for America plan.
Delivering for America has proposed to revamp the postal system to cut costs.
Its architect, Postmaster Louis DeJoy who recently announced he is stepping down, has said the plan will speed up mail in many areas of the country.
However, vocal critics on both sides of the political aisle have pointed out those gains will be achieved by significantly slowing deliveries to rural areas, as did an advisory opinion from postal regulator, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC).
The USPS filing with the PRC outlines $3 billion and some change in savings by transitioning from three-digit to five-digit ZIP code standards, as well as reforming “legacy business rules no longer tethered to today’s volume and product mix that force USPS to do costly, expensive, and inefficient things such as executing a trip in the morning and another trip in the evening every day, to every office, no matter how far the office is from the mail processing plant.”
All first-class mail will still arrive within a maximum of five days, according to the filing, with a national average of three days.
“The significant savings generated by this proposed operational strategy would enable the Postal Service to absorb the cost of continuing to provide local cancellation service in Cheyenne,” according to a statement from USPS sent to Cowboy State Daily. “As a result, the Postal Service will not need to relocate certain local originating mail processing operations outside of the Cheyenne facilities.”
Cowboy State Daily received an identical media statement for Casper mail, with only the name of the city being different.
Delegation Cautiously Optimistic
Wyoming’s Congressional Delegation has been united in its opposition to the Delivering for America Plan’s proposal to move all of Wyoming’s large mail processing capacities to a different state and has sponsored the POSTAL Act, which seeks to prohibit USPS from removing all of a state’s Regional Processing and Distribution Centers.
Wyoming still would not get even one of Delivering for America’s 60 RPDCs with the change it has just announced, and that’s still an issue, U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis told Cowboy State Daily.
“While I appreciate the local mail processing capabilities, all in-state mail and packages should be processed within Wyoming,” she said. “A piece of mail from Cheyenne to Casper shouldn’t have to be processed through Denver and Billings to reach its delivery point. USPS still must take bold steps to address its ongoing issues to serve rural states like Wyoming.”
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman struck a similar note of caution and said she would continue to push for legislation to ensure improvements for Wyoming.
“Today’s USPS announcement to keep local mail processing in Casper and Cheyenne is a promising development for Wyoming,” she said. “These investments strengthen our postal infrastructure, but challenges remain.
“I will continue to push forward the many pieces of postal legislation I have introduced, including the POSTAL Act, to secure these gains and stop future out of state diversions.”
Hageman’s other legislation is the INFORM Act, which seeks to require USPS to place notices at affected Post Offices whenever it makes a change big enough to trigger an advisory opinion from its regulator, the Public Regulatory Comission.
U.S. Sen. Jon Barrasso, R-Wyoming, meanwhile, called it welcome news.
“The USPS is a lifeline in rural states like Wyoming,” he said in a statement to Cowboy State Daily. “Keeping processing and distribution centers in our state will prevent delays and provide a timely postal service for our communities.”
Wyoming Small But Mighty
Secretary of State Chuck Gray has been among the most vocal of critics to the Delivering for America Plan’s proposal to take away Wyoming’s large mail processing capabilities, saying it would not only slow essential deliveries of things like medications down, but threaten the integrity of the state’s election by sending absentee ballots out of state for processing, slowing their delivery as well.
“I look forward to USPS clarifying what exactly this means, because it is a little unclear,” he said. “This announcement does appear to be a step in the right direction, and that is great news. The people of Wyoming have been clear that Wyoming mail should be processed in Wyoming.”
Ricci Roberts, branch president of the Cheyenne mail handling unit, thanked Wyoming’s Congressional delegation for its support and told Cowboy State Daily postal employees are heartened by the announcement.
“Many tears of relief have been shed today by numerous employees,” she said. “We are part of the community and deeply care about the mail and seeing our customers, our neighbors, treated right.”
Rural communities particularly depend on reliable service, she added.
“Every person who has reached out has bolstered us,” she said. “Every person who has graciously donated their time, sitting in community meetings alongside us, and sat for hours in telephone calls waiting to speak on behalf of Wyoming has given us strength.
“I’m humbled by how powerful the residents of Wyoming are. We may be small in numbers, but we are mighty.”
Is It The Last Word?
The USPS announcement about Wyoming’s mail delivery comes amid rumors that the Trump administration is thinking about firing the Postal Service’s Board of Governors, and placing the agency under the Commerce Department, according to national news media reports.
The move could be a preparatory step toward privatization of the beleaguered Postal Service, something Trump talked about in December prior to assuming the office of president.
The White House has since denied the claim, and the Postal Service is not commenting about the matter.
Reportedly, the USPS Board of Governors met in an emergency session to discuss retaining counsel to fight such a move; however, the meeting is not among those listed on its public website.
An emailed inquiry seeking confirm or deny the emergency meeting did not receive a response prior to this article being posted.
Union representatives of postal workers have characterized these national reports as unsubstantiated rumors, but said they are outrageous if true.
“If this reporting is true, it would be an outrageous unlawful attack on a stories national treasure, enshrined in the Constitution and created by Congress to serve every American home and business equally,” American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein said. “Any attack on the Postal Service would be part of the billionaire coup, directed not just at the postal workers our union represents but the millions of Americans who rely on the critical public service our members provide every single day.”
The Postal Service is a low-cost anchor for the $1.2 trillion mail and shipping industry, Dimondstein added, supporting more than 7 million jobs in communities across America.
He said privatization would drive up postage rates and lead to reduced services, particularly to rural areas of America.
Wyoming’s congressional delegation, meanwhile, expressed more confidence in the Trump administration’s involvement.
“If the last four years have taught us anything, it’s that the status quo at USPS is not working,” Lummis said. “If anyone can reform the USPS so that people across Wyoming are not forced to wait days to get their mail or lifesaving medication, it’s President Trump.”
Barrasso added that he would “look forward to working with the Trump administration to streamline the USPS to make sure our state has mail service we can rely on.”
Hageman said she is, “Hopeful that we will continue to see positive advancements for Wyoming under President Trump’s administration.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
