Postal Service vows to move ahead with closures of Petaluma, Eureka plants

Despite harsh words from a congressman and pleas from dozens of residents and business owners, the Postal Service remains intent on closing two processing centers affecting the mail service of hundreds of thousands of North Coast residents.

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, this week sought answers from U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in a letter in which he expressed strong opposition to the plan to close processing centers in Petaluma and Eureka.

Huffman said the agency has provided inconsistent information to customers and has not justified why the facilities must be closed.

“I am frustrated at the Postal Service’s lack of transparency throughout this process, disregard for public input and ambivalence to the impacts reduced service standards will have on local communities,” Huffman wrote. “It has come to my attention that the USPS declined to meet with local leaders from my district, stating that the decision is final and there is nothing more to discuss, when just the month prior I was personally assured that the process was ongoing and no final decision had been made.”

Postal Service spokesman James Wigdel in San Francisco reiterated this week that the 2012 decision to close the facilities hasn’t changed.

“This process began back in 2011 and continued to 2012. The final decisions were made in 2012,” he said. “We held public meetings. We received letters from customers that had concerns, and we tried to answer any of the concerns that were raised at the time. All of the public input was considered prior to making the final decision.”

In a cost-cutting effort, the USPS plans to close the Petaluma and Eureka mail centers and move the work elsewhere in the Bay Area, displacing workers and lengthening the time it will take to deliver letters and packages.

Postal workers, who are represented by a union, won’t be laid off, but will be offered jobs at other locations, Wigdel said.

But employees note that many workers live locally and have made their careers here, making a move or lengthy commute to another site impractical. More than 350 workers are employed at the sites. When employees choose not to move or are unable to, the positions they are offered often remain unfilled.

Huffman held town hall-style meetings in August in both Petaluma and Eureka to allow residents to learn about the Postal Service’s plan and to have an opportunity to have their questions answered.

Representatives of the USPS declined to attend, he said.

“Throughout this process, the Postal Service continues to claim significant savings from these proposed changes, yet there has been little verifying data provided,” Huffman said.

He said an analysis by the Postal Regulatory Commission on the Postal Service’s nationwide consolidation plan shows savings as low as $46 million, compared to the $2.1 billion the USPS claims. The Postal Service estimated closing the Petaluma plant would save about $2.5 million.

With an increasing use of electronic communications and delivery services like FedEx and UPS, the Postal Service has seen its volume of work decline dramatically.

“We’ve got a network that was designed for 300 billion pieces of mail a year,” Wigdel said. “Last year, we were down to 160 billion pieces. So obviously, we don’t need that huge infrastructure any longer.”

More than 60 people attended Huffman’s meeting last month in Petaluma, including small-business owners, retirees, postal employees and others who depend on mail service for business needs.

Elece Hempel, executive director of the nonprofit Petaluma People Services Center, said agencies like hers rely on bulk mail for their fundraising. Delays in delivery and the lack of a local representative to offer assistance could jeopardize their efforts.

“We lose that ability to make sure it’s all OK before it goes out,” she said. “We don’t have millions of dollars to hire someone to mail it, like some of the big bulk mail companies do.”

Wigdel said mail delivery times will be delayed slightly. He said the average delivery time “from anywhere in the country to anywhere in the country” is 2.14 days currently. With the closures nationwide, he said the average will be 2.25 days.

In his letter, Huffman asked the Postal Service to suspend the planned closures; provide a detailed analysis of the financial impacts and service implications; reply to his questions and those of the public; and meet with local leaders to find a compromise.

“I understand and support the Postal Service’s attempts to re-examine its business model and find new ways to maximize efficiency, improve service and reduce costs,” he said. “The USPS has not provided me and my constituents with adequate information to show that the proposed consolidation of 82 mail processing facilities across the country will meet these goals.”

Huffman’s representatives said he had not received a reply to his letter from the Postal Service.

“I’m very frustrated at the Postal Service’s lack of transparency throughout this process and what seems to be a disregard for public input,” Huffman said. “I think they have an obligation to suspend the decision given the impacts these facility closures would have on local communities.”