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Representative Fred Upton urges Kalamazoo-area officials to oppose postal consolidation plan

A man in hooded sweatshirt and dark pants with reflective stripe wheels an orange cart in front of USPS mail trucks
Nam Y. Huh/AP
/
AP
A United States Postal Service employee works outside a post office in Wheeling, Ill., Dec. 3, 2021.

At a press event Monday, the 6th District Republican said the postmaster general's plan could slow delivery and impose untenable commutes on mail carriers.

Congressman Fred Upton said Monday that he’s called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoyto nix a plan to consolidate mail sorting and dispatch in the Kalamazoo area.

The Republican representative of the 6th District said that under the “Sorting and Delivery Centers” proposal, carriers would have to pick up mail from a postal station in Oshtemo rather than their local post office. Upton said the extra travel time would be unduly difficult for carriers.

“They are literally going to be driving perhaps as many as a hundred miles more a day” if the plan is approved, Upton said. “You’re just going to put an added burden on that man or woman.”

Upton said consolidating pickup could also delay delivery of the mail.

He urged local officials to condemn the proposal and to make their opposition known to DeJoy.

“We need to get the local supporters” of scrapping the plan
“to weigh in as well,” Upton said. “So resolutions, letters, before it becomes final, is very important.”

John McNeil covers local local government for WMUK. He has over 5 decades of broadcasting experience and over 40 years as a Journalist in Kalamazoo.