People from all over the Quad Cities gathered on Tuesday at the Camden Centre, Milan, to find out about a proposal to change the Milan processing distribution center to a local facility.
The U.S. Postal Service believes the Quad Cities facility should become only a local processing center. This plan would move some of its existing mail processing operations to Des Moines.
“A vast majority of mail will go to Des Moines because it will be in a better network of where mail is going, and it can be handled more expeditiously and with modernization, different transportation, and routes to move the mail that way,” said Tim Norman, USPS strategic communications specialist for Illinois 1 District.
This proposal is part of a 10-year, $40-billion plan to streamline processing and transportation. The postal service believes the plan will lead to greater transportation efficiency and cost savings.
Concerned over the fate of their jobs, mail processing clerks and mail holders aren’t buying into the idea.
“The distribution centers should stay here, and the local people should stay here and do the job instead of moving 100, 200 miles away,” said Milan’s facility mail handler Ken Bragg. “The Quad Cities is big enough to handle the mail from Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and Dubuque.”
“Go to Amazon and look at any order you have. If that order goes out to Des Moines, to me, it’s a delay because it comes to us or it comes to a region close to us to go all the way to a different state just to come back. it makes no sense,” said Milan’s facility mail processing clerk John Harris.
The postal service says no one is getting laid off, but won’t confirm if any jobs would move over to Des Moines.
“I can’t speak for relocations or anything like that,” said Norman. “I know, in that facility, there wont be any layoffs.”
Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati voiced concerns as well. She’s worried how this could impact ballots in upcoming elections.
“Do you really think that it is smart to send ballots from Illinois, three hours away into Iowa, and to hopefully get them back in Illinois?” said Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati.
She’s also worried about how prescriptions will be delivered.
“The population is aging. Many people get their prescriptions by mail,” Rayapati added. “How are we caring for the most vulnerable people in our communities if you are focused on the bottom line and efficiencies outside of local.”
The postal service says it’s still evaluating its plans. Norman also said it will take several weeks until there’s a decision after going over the comments.
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