If lawmakers fail to pass national legislation to maintain the U. S. Postal Service, Muncie's mail processing facility could be eliminated in the coming months.
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The Postal Service announced in late February that it will be moving mail processing operations from eight locations around the state to centers in Indianapolis, Evansville, Fort Wayne and Bedford Park, Ill. These changes in Indiana mirror those planned in other states, as the Postal Service makes moves to downsize in the wake of successive years of decreased revenue.
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If the plan in enacted, Muncie's processing and distribution facility would close, and mail would be routed through Indianapolis instead. Michael Rexroat, supervisor at the Muncie facility, said officials at the plant would not comment on the proposed closing, but the Associated Press reported in February that it could result in a loss of 41 local jobs.
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Mary Dando, spokesperson for the Postal Service in Indiana, said the average citizen wouldn't see much of a disruption if the consolidation were to officially occur.
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"Right now, most of our mail is processed in the night," Dando said, "Under the new service ... we will move to second day [delivery], which will be a two-to-three day expectation of service rather than one-to-three days [for first class mail.]"
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Steve Hutkins, a New York University professor of literature who started a website, SavethePostOffice.com, to monitor and combat the shrinking of the Postal Service, said the effect of this delay could be catastrophic.
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Hutkins said approximately half of the country's first class mail currently gets delivered the next day and putting an end to that would further minimize the public's reliance on the Postal Service and contribute even more to its decline.
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Dando said the consolidation is nothing more than one of the cost-cutting measures the Postal Service, an independent agency that runs like a business, must take to keep up with the times.
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"We've had a 25 percent [decline in] first class mail since 2006, which was our highest year, and since then we've seen a steep decline." Dando said. "There are times in our 24-hour day that we have machines not being used and, as a business, we have to look at what we can do to be more efficient."
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In December, the Postal Service enacted a five-month moratorium in which it promised not to close or consolidate any post offices or processing facilities before Congress had time to pass legislation that would give the Postal Service another option.
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So far, that route is not looking promising. Hutkins said it's not likely significantly legislation will be passed before the moratorium ends May 15, and Dando pointed out that the Postal Service is not permitted to lobby.
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"Sort of like everyone else, we're just watching to see what will happen," she said. "It's really in the hands of Congress."
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Dando said specifics of the consolidation, if or when it happens, are still being studied and reviewed, and at this point no timeline has been set for any part of the process after the moratorium. She said the retail and business sides of Postal Service operations in this area are not currently threatened, and stores will remain open for the foreseeable future.
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Hutkins is skeptical.
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"You don't miss your post office till it's gone," he said.
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