This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced that Wyoming’s two mail processing locations will continue to process certain local mail. The centers in Cheyenne and Casper were initially set to be downgraded under the agency’s “Delivering for America” agenda. Mail would have instead been processed in Denver and Billings under a previous version of the plan.
On Feb. 21, the agency released two press releases announcing that will no longer be the case for the Cheyenne location and the Casper location. The announcements state that the change is due to “a proposed operational strategy aimed at increasing efficiency, improving service quality, and saving USPS an additional $3 billion per-year nationwide.”
Both releases outline that there are no anticipated impacts to employees at either location, and that a single piece of mail sent from Cheyenne to Cheyenne (or to Casper) will still be processed locally.
USPS spokesperson James Boxrud clarified in an email to Wyoming Public Radio that “both processing centers will continue to process originating (outgoing) mail from across Wyoming.”
The agency plans to put $5.7 million into the Casper location and $3.5 million into the Cheyenne location, which will go to streamlining each center’s processing and distribution abilities. The funds will also go to “modernization efforts and deferred maintenance along with new workplace amenities for Postal Service employees such as new lighting and renovated bathrooms and break rooms,” according to the releases.
Members of Wyoming’s D.C. delegation have introduced a few USPS-related bills to Congress this session. That includes the POSTAL Act, which would prevent the USPS from closing, consolidating or downgrading distribution centers if that change would leave a state without any center at all, and the INFORM Act, which would require the agency to increase its communications about changes to mail delivery.
Most recently, Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyoming) introduced the Postal Processing Protection Act with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), which would require the USPS to follow the same standards for closing or consolidating sorting, distribution, or processing facilities as it does for storefront post offices under existing law.
