Two senators add their voices to postal opposition

Montana’s two senators are voicing their “total disagreement” with the Postal Service’s plan to close mail processing operations in Kalispell and Missoula and fold them into larger operations in Spokane.

The mail proposals are the subject of a public meeting tonight in Kalispell.

The proposed consolidations were announced as the financially struggling Postal Service aims to close more than half of its 487 mail processing centers around the country and lay off 35,000 workers, hoping to save $3 billion annually.

“While I understand the Postal Service must make some tough choices to get out of the red, it makes no sense to send mail from Montana out of state, over two mountain passes and back,” Sen. Max Baucus wrote in a recent letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

If Kalispell’s processing operations at the main post office branch on Meridian Road are closed, even local mail would have to be shipped off to Spokane for sorting and then back for delivery.

That would mean the end of overnight delivery of local mail, affecting people, businesses and even elections, Baucus said.

A study by the Postal Service estimates closing Kalispell’s sorting operations would lead to the loss of 12 positions and save about $575,000 annually.

Closing the mail sorting operations in Missoula would lead to the loss of 28 positions and save about $1.2 million annually.

In both cases, the total savings would be much greater but are consumed by significantly higher transportation costs of shipping mail to and from Spokane.

Sen. Jon Tester said the Postal Service already closed four mail processing centers in Montana this year, leaving the state with five.

“Additional closures are unacceptable and will cause further delays in mail delivery,” Tester wrote in a letter to Donahoe.

Tester staffers plan to attend tonight’s public meeting the Postal Service is holding on the issue in Kalispell.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell.

The Postal Service has said it will accept public comment and then reach a final decision on the proposed consolidations.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.