PEORIA, Ill. – Concerns are being raised over a proposed restructuring plan by the United States Postal Service that would affect operations at the Peoria Processing and Distribution Center.
Brian Wagner served as a customer relations coordinator for 20 years in Peoria before becoming National President of the National Association of Postal Supervisors, and tells WMBD’s “Greg and Dan” the plan involves taking outgoing mail services currently done in Peoria, and moving it to the South Suburban P&DC in Bedford Park.
He says Peoria’s facility would not be the only one affected, as services in Springfield would move to St. Louis, and outgoing mail from Quad Cities would move to Des Moines, Iowa.
Wagner says mail classified as “destinating mail” in the Peoria-area, mail that is sent and received locally, would stay locally. But what that actually entails is still in question.
“If you live in Dunlap, Washington, Pekin, Morton, Chillicothe, is that destinating? So if you’re mailing to them, is it going to go up to South Suburban, and then come back?” Wagner said.
Wagner says he has attended meetings and forums on the proposal, and has yet to get a clear answer to that question.
Wagner says the proposal could also affect mail times, and that if it goes through, people should plan for a few extra days to send something that is timely.
“Those who still write the check to mail their bills, they need to realize that if it’s due on this day, they need to prepare for a few extra days,” Wagner said. “And those who have medicine coming in, a lot of medicine that you can only get so often, you have to do it in a week in advance, you don’t want to run out of your high blood pressure medicine.”
The issue is also catching the interest of area Congressional leaders. Congressmen Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap) and Eric Sorensen (D-East Moline) have written a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on the proposal.
In the letter, they raise concerns about what will happen to 120 employees at the Peoria plant. They ask what will happen to those jobs, how they will support those who might need to move or be retrained, and how the changes will improve efficiency.
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