Postal service changes impacting Springfield will move forward. What to know

The United States Postal Service has approved changing Springfield’s Packaging and Distribution Center (PDC) into a Local Processing Center (LPC), moving mail processing outside of the state to operations in St. Louis, Missouri.

The USPS said the announcement comes following a thorough business review and solicitation of public feedback on the facility’s future.

This comes after 100 members of the American Postal Workers Union marched on May 3 calling for the Springfield PDC to stay open, echoing several state legislators and local governments who criticized the proposed change.

More: Illinois postal workers march for transparency in Springfield amid USPS changes

The change in mail processing is part of the Delivering for America plan proposed in March 2021. The decade-long proposal guides these slashes to PDC centers to save the company between $1.7 to $2.2 million annually with the plan with no layoffs but job "impacts" moving employees across state or over state lines to continue working with the USPS.

In the press release issued by the USPS on Tuesday, no impacts were mentioned but in a Mail Processing Facility Review given by local 239 of the American Postal Workers Union, 18 clerk division employees and one management position would be impacted by this change to an LPC.

The Postal Service says it will invest up to $6.1 million in the Springfield LPC, which will result in expanded and streamlined package and mail processing and distribution capabilities for the facility. These investments include $5.1 million for modernization efforts and deferred maintenance on employee break rooms and parking lots.

The Postal Service also says after the Springfield facility is converted to an LPC, it is anticipated that it will be able to mail and ship packages, manual letters and flats.

More: 'Shortsighted' plan to change mail process in central Illinois draws ire of residents

Local 239 of the American Postal Workers Union sent the following statement to the State Journal-Register following the postal service's decision:

"The Union is waiting to see the actual impacted employee's statement. The decision to proceed says eighteen craft one management, but it doesn't mention which crafts are affected and how many in each craft? We are very upset with the decision to proceed with no clear indications on what we are proceeding to do other than sending our mail out of state. The State of Illinois should not be sending their mail outside of the state or even shipped."

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, with Reps. Eric Sorensen, Mary Miller and Nikki Budzinski have all come out publicly against the changes along with Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher.

The USPS did not confirm when the changes will take effect, the story will be updated when dates are confirmed.

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for the State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Postal service changes impacting Springfield will move forward