Proposed Mail Delivery Relocations May Impact Area Post Offices
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Kosciusko and South Bend post offices may see some changes in its mail carrier operations if a proposal for a mail delivery unit relocation is approved.
A meeting will be held today in a conference room at the South Bend post office to discuss the proposal.
During an interview Wednesday afternoon, Randy Stines, postal operations manager for north central Indiana, confirmed he will meet with Kosciusko County and South Bend post masters and postal district employees to discuss the proposed mail delivery unit relocations."A decision may not be made today if the mail delivery unit relocation is decided on because we still need to do a cost analysis to see if it is feasible," Stines said.
Stines also said facility space and parking lot room to move mail carrying operations enough for cost savings will need to be addressed.
Stines also confirmed all post offices in Kosciusko County and the South Bend Post Office in the 465 zip codes will be discussed for the proposed mail delivery unit relocation.
Stines said if the proposal is approved, he did not expect post offices to close or have reductions in hours.
A mail delivery unit relocation process allows the postal service to review opportunities to move delivery operation from one post office into another that has existing delivery so that they can be more centrally located, Stines explained.
Stines said benefits to the postal service includes reduced mail handling and transportation costs as well as a savings of personnel expenses over the long term.
The Greater Indiana District will be reviewing post offices with rural and city delivery units for the proposed mail unit delivery relocation.
At this time the delivery unit relocation has already been implemented in many locations in Indiana already, Stines said.
Stines said there was a mail delivery unit relocation in January for the Silver Lake Post Office where mail carriers now report to North Manchester.
Kokomo also underwent the mail delivery unit relocation process in January.
"We are in the initial evaluation stages of delivery units throughout the remainder of the district," Stines said.
The Times-Union reported in its Feb. 23 edition that Winona Lake post office is one of the post offices in Kosciusko County that is being considered for the proposal.
Winona Lake currently has four mail carriers that work three mail delivery routes.
If the proposal is approved, it could mean Winona Lake's operations could move to Warsaw's post office.
That would leave the Winona Lake post office with two desk clerks and Dan King, Winona Lake postmaster, at the existing post office.
