WASHINGTON, D.C.— The U.S. Postal Service says its modernizing mail operations at the Iron Mountain Processing and Distribution Center in Kingsford, but it still plans to transfer outgoing mail processing operations to Green Bay. The USPS says the decision was made after a business review and consideration of public feedback, and that currently, a majority of mail and packages are destined outside the Iron Mountain area to the rest of the world.
Michigan Senator Gary Peters is slamming the decision. He called for the Postal Service to pause any changes until after it studied the full impact they would have on mail service in rural areas.
Peters says, “UP residents depend on the Postal Service to deliver vital medications, financial documents, and lab tests that are critical to their wellbeing. Given the serious service disruptions and increased costs that similar Postal Service changes led to in other states, I am extremely concerned about the potential impact this could have for communities across the Upper Peninsula. I will always fight to protect reliable mail delivery in Michigan and across the country – and I call on USPS leadership to reverse this decision until they can show the public that it will not harm the mail service they are counting on.”
USPS plans to invest up to $6.3 million in the Iron Mountain Local Processing Center. It says the investment in the Iron Mountain facility is a part of the Postal Service’s 10-year Delivering for America plan to improve organizational and operational processes and actively make the Postal Service an efficient, high-performing, world class logistics and delivery provider.
Officials say there will be no career layoffs as part of the initiative.
