Members of Maine's congressional delegation are among those blasting a decision by the United States Postal Service to consolidate services at its facility in Hampden and move some operations to southern Maine.
The decision is part of a larger consolidation plan, and the agency said this week that "the business case supports transferring mail processing outgoing operations to the Southern Maine P&DC in Scarborough, ME."
The Hampden facility will remain open and receive more than $12 million in investments. It will also be co-located with a sorting and delivery center.
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said that the decision "jeopardizes the reliable delivery of mail, including critical medication, for Mainers. In addition, residents will certainly see their local mail delayed. These concerns are further heightened by the recent USPS IG [inspector general] report highlighting pre-existing delivery delays in Southern Maine. The USPS should reconsider this decision and be transparent with Mainers about its impact"
Scott Adams, the president of American Postal Workers United Local 458, said that the decision didn't come as a surprise, and he feels any facility improvements are substantially outweighed by potential service delays.
"You can paint a facility, that's wonderful, you should have painted it when it needed painting. Or, you know, fix the toilets, whatever the maintenance that they're doing with new cafeterias, new restrooms, they could have been doing that all along. But what they're not addressing is how this will impact delivery," Adams said.
Congressman Jared Golden has introduced a bill to freeze the consolidation plan and require more oversight over the consolidation process. Adams said he supports Golden's legislation, which he hopes could quickly gain support from lawmakers.
"I guess we're trying to un-ring the bill. And it's not easy to do. So I would hope that legislation would move quickly. And I think it would. This is a bipartisan issue," Adams said.
The postal service said the move will not include any career layoffs, though Adams shared information from the agency showing a net reduction of at least eight workers.
The agency did not immediately respond to further questions about its decision.
