A New Jersey congressman is continuing to raise questions about a U.S. Postal Service plan to move mail sorting and processing operations out of his district to Philadelphia.
U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, D-1, issued a statement earlier this month before the only announced public hearing about the plan.
“Holding one hearing in only one town on the proposal is restrictive on the public’s ability to provide input and is a disservice to our community,” Norcross said before the 1 p.m. hearing in Cherry Hill on March 6. “The distribution center serves a large region in South Jersey and our community must be allowed to have sufficient input when USPS wants to make significant changes that will impact its services.”
Norcross added that the hearing “was not advertised with adequate notice and is occurring during most people’s normal work hours.”
A USPS statement said a plan to move mail sorting and distribution from Bellmawr to Philadelphia is part of a nationwide, $40 billion investment strategy to upgrade and improve the processing, transportation and delivery networks. It said the branch retail services in Bellmawr are not expected to change.
“The Postal Service remains committed to the transparency we have applied throughout the network modernization process,” USPS regional spokesman Xavier Hernandez told NJ Advance Media in an email on March 15. He added that public comments can be submitted about the plan online through March 21.
“We need to still deliver for the people,” Frank Bollinger, an official for the American Postal Workers Union, which represents nearly 400 workers at the Bellmawr postal facility, told NJ Advance Media last week. “How do you keep customers when you charge them more for a poor service? Ever since email has come out the post office has been referred to as snail mail. You are making that snail even slower.”
The postal service is promising to work closely with unions throughout the facility review and will monitor the impact of changes and adjust plans when necessary, according to a USPS statement.
But Norcross also sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy urging greater transparency about proposed changes to the South Jersey Processing and Distribution Center and potential impacts on mail service reliability and jobs in the community.
“DeJoy’s Plan will cause lengthier mail delays in addition to those he has already caused by removing mail processing equipment and reduced staffing,” Sue Carney, mayor of Mount Ephraim and a retired South Jersey mail processing and distribution center worker, said in a statement. “All residents and businesses in Camden, Gloucester, Salem, Burlington, and Cumberland counties will be negatively impacted.”
Hernandez said local mail would not be affected in the proposed plan. The postal service is proposing similar changes in 30 facilities nationwide. Bellmawr is the only facility in New Jersey.
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Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com.
