Consolidation would let mail delivery diminish

(Editor's note: This editorial has been updated to include information from Rep. Jason Smith's office.)

From defense installations to post offices, government officials regularly evaluate and consider which taxpayer-funded facilities to keep open and which to consolidate.

A decade ago, Cape Girardeau's U.S. Postal Service processing and distribution facility came on the chopping block. The idea at the time contended moving the operations to St. Louis would save money and improve service.

Consolidating operations to "improve efficiency" sounds good on its face, and sometimes it works. Thing is, that doesn't always happen. Sometimes, consolidating operations erodes service and costs more.

Consolidating the protein industry in the United States has led to no more than a handful of companies controlling the nation's beef, pork and poultry supply. That consolidation should be able to provide economy-of-scale price savings, too. Bought some bacon lately?

With regard to the Postal Service, consolidating services might do the same thing.

Members of the local American Postal Workers Union have sounded the alarm, contending the federal plan to move operations to St. Louis would not only slow down local mail service but would also result in the loss of 37 local jobs.

Those are 37 Cape Girardeau area men and women with bills to pay and families to support, not to mention the slow-down of service to folks in this region who depend on the U.S. Postal Service to ferry important correspondence and medical prescriptions in a speedy manner.

We reached out to our federal lawmakers to see where they stand on sending Cape Girardeau’s mail service to St. Louis, but neither of the state’s U.S. senators responded.

Southeast Missouri’s representative, though, has addressed the issue directly. Rep. Jason Smith’s office forwarded a letter he co-signed with several dozen members of Congress asking the postmaster general to re-evaluate the plan, for the Cape facility and others. Read the full letter here.

The congressman commented on the issue Thursday evening: “Too often, the United States Postal Service treats rural areas as an inconvenience or an afterthought, and continue to prioritize major cities over outstate Missouri communities. I first worked against this facility closure when I arrived in Congress in 2013. With service and processing delays becoming more frequent, I cannot imagine how this consolidation would benefit rural Missourians. That’s why I joined with several of my colleagues in Congress to write the USPS to question their rationale with this latest proposal. From fighting processing facility closures and cluster boxes to preserving routes to keeping rural post offices open, this is a battle I refuse to give up. The drop in service and continued delays are simply unacceptable.”

So, whether Cape Girardeau whether loses its mail processing and distribution facility is uncertain, but there is little evidence moving the operation would enhance service. Taxpayers, Postal Service patrons and Postal Service employees deserve better.