By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WZMQ 19 News) — Last week, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced the Iron Mountain Processing and Distribution Center will remain fully operational into the future.
The reversal comes after strong pushback from lawmakers and residents. Last year’s decision to reduce the scale of operations at the facility meant all outgoing mail, even within the U.P., would be sent to a regional processing and distribution center in Wisconsin.
“I’ve had many conversations with the Postmaster General about how it was wrong to transfer these operations to Wisconsin,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D- MI) in an interview with WZMQ 19 News Thursday. “It would have added hours of transportation time. And we all know, in winter it would be particularly problematic,” Peters added.
The original decision was a part of nationwide efforts by USPS to consolidate and cut costs. However, last Friday, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the Iron Mountain Processing and Distribution Center will continue to provide a robust mail processing service for communities across the Upper Peninsula.
Lawmakers in Washington say it’s great news for Yoopers, who depend on USPS for more than just letters.
“It’s not just about delivering mail, think about prescriptions. Think about blood samples and other things that need to be processed within a very quick period of time,” said U.P. Congressman Jack Bergman (R- MI). “I applaud the fact that the Postal Service has decided to not further degrade the mail delivery and the mail processing that we have in the U.P,” Bergman added.
“I’m very pleased with this decision. I’ve been fighting this for quite some time,” said Sen. Peters. “Folks in the U.P. deserve to have mail delivered on time. Folks count on mail coming in on time to deliver medicines, test results for water, for example, in some communities. When you get checks and bills you need to have on time delivery. It’s an absolute necessity.”
Last week, Postmaster General DeJoy notified the Postal Service Board of Governors that he plans to step down and to begin the process of identifying his successor.
