(Press Release) Congressman Steve King announced his support for a recently released report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding the process used by the United States Postal Service to identify possible consolidation opportunities within its nationwide network. The report, undertaken at the request of Congress, highlighted several problems with the Postal Service’s Area Mail Processing (AMP) consolidation process. Among the problems, the GAO reported that the Postal Service has failed to adequately engage and communicate with stakeholders in the process, use clear criteria to identify facilities for possible consolidation, accurately project actual savings from the proposed consolidations, and develop a reliable and comprehensive means to determine what effect the proposed consolidations will have on mail delivery.
“Since the Postal service first announced the possibility that Sioux City’s mail processing duties might be moved to Sioux Falls, I’ve worked with our Senators to bring the Postal Service’s attention to the problems that we and the Siouxland community have identified with the AMP process. From the lack of meaningful, voluntary dialogue with the public and stakeholders, to a refusal to fully address concerns raised about the costs and degradations in service that could accompany a move to Sioux Falls, the Postal Service has missed several opportunities to make its case for consolidation. And now, with the release of this report, we find that, because of the gaps that exist within its AMP process, the postal service simply did not have the tools necessary to gather the information needed to adequately address our concerns.”
“At some point, the Postal Service must have realized the deficiencies of the AMP process on its own. It decided not to move forward with 34 of the 57 consolidations it originally considered. This GAO report has backed-up the concerns that have been long expressed by the Siouxland community. I think it’s time the Postal Service takes a fresh look at its proposal to move Sioux City’s mail processing facility to Sioux Falls. I look forward to working with the postal service to do so,” said King.