Dear Postmaster General:
As I told you this evening, I am deeply disappointed and shocked that the Postal Service is proceeding to close its Hampden, Maine processing center, a decision that is contrary to the Postal Service's own interests and that will create job losses and hurt service in much of Maine. This decision is inexplicable given the compelling testimony at the public hearing in January about the detrimental impact of closing the plant. The hard-working employees of the Hampden facility deserve better, as do all the residents of Northern, Eastern, and Central Maine, who would be affected by this terrible decision.
I have repeatedly pressed the Postal Service, to no avail, to provide information on how management expects to maintain quality mail delivery service in Maine by closing one of only two key processing facilities in the state. Given the geography of Maine, both plants are clearly essential.
If mail to and from the northern half of Maine has to travel all the way to the Scarborough plant to be processed, longer delivery times are inevitable, and that has consequences -- for small businesses advertising their products or billing their customers, for families who use the mail for their daily newspaper delivery, for seniors who rely on the mail for their prescription drugs, and for so many others.
It is inconceivable that there are no possible alternatives for the Hampden site aside from shutting the plant. For example, I urged the Postal Service to maintain full processing operations but to lease unneeded space in the building. Such a plan would generate much-needed additional revenue without impairing mail delivery service standards.
No business facing a financial crisis would risk alienating the loyal customers it still has by eliminating the one service that sets it apart from competitors - overnight delivery of mail for the price of a stamp - yet the Postal Service is rushing down the path of reduced service and the associated plant closures.
Closure of this plant would force businesses ranging from home-delivery of medicines to newspapers to turn to other, non-postal delivery options. Once these private firms leave the mail system, they won’t be coming back, and the Postal Service’s revenues will suffer yet another blow from which it might not recover.
Moreover, the Postal Service’s assumptions about projected losses and savings from service cuts have proven unreliable in the past. For instance, the magnitude of the savings the Postal Service estimates from eliminating Saturday delivery has been challenged by the Postal Regulatory Commission, in part because of the Postal Service’s significant underestimation of likely lost revenue. Given this history, I have little confidence that the Postal Service has adequately projected just how much business it stands to lose in Maine should it proceed with the closure of the Hampden facility.
It is unacceptable and incredibly short-sighted for the Postal Service to ignore the irreparable harm that Hampden's closure would cause so many Maine businesses, their customers and employees, and of course the postal workers at the plant and the USPS itself.
I am firmly opposed to the Hampden plant closing and remain unconvinced that this is the best path forward for the Postal Service. This proposal should be abandoned once and for all.
Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
