Ohio Lawmakers Urge USPS to Consider Utilizing Ex-DHL Facility To Sort Mail

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The office of Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, issued the following press release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), joined by Republican Representatives Mike Turner (OH-3) and Jean Schmidt (OH-2), sent a letter to the Postmaster General encouraging the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to consider utilizing Wilmington Air Park in its effort to find savings and increase efficiency.

“We encourage the USPS to consider the Wilmington Air Park as it determines the best course of action in returning the USPS to profitability,” they wrote. “According to one estimate, utilizing this facility could save the USPS up to an additional one billion dollars annually. We invite you to tour this facility to see first-hand what a valuable asset the Wilmington Air Park could be for the USPS.”

The USPS is conducting a review of its mail processing system to determine how to consolidate and streamline it. The publicly-owned Wilmington Air Park has a fully automated sort facility with 1.1 million square feet and the capacity to process 240,000 pieces of mail per hour. The site is also located within a one day drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population.

Full text of the letter appears below.

October 13, 2011

The Honorable Patrick R. Donahoe

Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer

United States Postal Service

475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington, D.C. 20260-2202

Dear Postmaster Donahoe,

In light of the recent announcement that the United States Postal Service (USPS) will conduct a comprehensive review of its mail processing network in an effort to consolidate and streamline postal infrastructure, we wanted to bring to your attention an important asset in Ohio that could help the USPS find savings and boost efficiency.

The Wilmington Air Park, owned by the Clinton County Port Authority, offers a unique opportunity for the USPS.  The publicly-owned 2,200 acre facility was formerly home to the domestic hub for cargo carrier DHL, and the area offers impressive facilities and a dedicated workforce.  The facility has state-of-the-art sorting infrastructure left behind when DHL ceased domestic operations, including “Building F,” a fully automated sort facility with 1.1 million square feet and the capacity to process 240,000 pieces of mail per hour.  The site is also located within a one day drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population.

We encourage the USPS to consider the Wilmington Air Park as it determines the best course of action in returning the USPS to profitability.  According to one estimate, utilizing this facility could save the USPS up to an additional one billion dollars annually.

We realize that there are many difficult choices ahead regarding any changes to the current USPS system, but we ask that during the 90 day review process, which is now underway, you consider the Wilmington Air Park as a piece of your cost-savings efforts.  We also invite you to tour this facility to see first-hand what a valuable asset the Wilmington Air Park could be for the USPS.

Please find enclosed additional information about the facility.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

3 thoughts on “Ohio Lawmakers Urge USPS to Consider Utilizing Ex-DHL Facility To Sort Mail”

  1. Might as well do it! We’ll be as BELLY UP as DHL! DUH!! There’s a reason why that site is VACATE! Put a lot of my homies out of work.

  2. Columbus Ohio MPO has about 40 or so machines with the capacity of 36000-40000 letters per hour EACH. What makes the 240000 hour total capacity Wilmington site such a great savings [1 BILLION Dollars yearly]?

    Sure is a whole lot of misinformation out there.

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