A U.S. Postal Service feasibility study that could shift afternoon operations at the Gary Mail Processing Center to South Bend won’t result in slow local delivery, postal officials said Tuesday.
Postal Service spokeswoman Kim Yates said the consolidation may occur if there is no negative impact to mail delivery service.
Yates said that the impetus for the study is strictly about dollars and cents, not census data that saw Gary plunge below 100,000 residents for the first time.
Eighty-three afternoon shift workers could be affected if the changes take place.
The afternoon shift handles all of the mail coming in and cancels the items. The overnight shift sorts the mail that will be delivered locally.
“We have several open positions available, and we anticipate that no one would be out of a job,” Yates said.
Yates said several other processing centers are facing consolidation across the state: Some Bloomington operations were absorbed into Indianapolis a year ago, and some of the Lafayette and Muncie operations will be absorbed by the Kokomo center this spring.
Cynthia Starks, who represents the mail handlers at the center, said she’s not sure why the study is focused only on shifting Gary operations to South Bend.
“It seems like we should put some South Bend operations in Gary because of the numbers,” Starks said. “To me it’s like they’re trying to take something else out of Gary.”
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, wrote a letter to the Postmaster General, expressing his opposition to consolidating any of Gary’s operations elsewhere.
“As a reliable local employer, the Gary Processing and Distribution Center is a critical component of the economy in the City of Gary and for the greater Northwest Indiana community,” Visclosky wrote. “The Gary facility serves as the distribution center for not only its own neighborhood, but many suburban and rural areas in our region, all of which need efficient, timely mail service.