Mail pickup in Durango will be earlier at certain locations starting Sept. 28 to fit the U.S. Postal Service plan to switch local mail processing to Albuquerque, an agency spokesman said Monday.
“Some collection times have been adjusted to align with our transportation and processing operations to ensure we continue to meet our service standards,” Brian Sperry said in an email interview. “Thirty-day notifications were posted on each box. As a normal course, we make adjustments to our collection times based on customer usage and operational needs.”
The Postal Service is moving mail processing to Albuquerque as part of a budget-tightening move. The agency wants to reduce costs by $20 billion by 2017. Mail volume doesn’t justify the size and capacity of the agency network, Sperry said earlier.
The consolidation of work in Albuquerque will not affect the timely delivery of mail in Durango, Sperry said. First-class mail from one Durango address to another will be delivered overnight as before the consolidation, he said.
Mail from ZIP codes with the first three digits of 813, which includes Durango, Hesperus and Marvel, will be processed in Albuquerque, Sperry said.
Mail from ZIP codes beginning with 811, including Bayfield, Ignacio and Pagosa Springs, will be processed in Denver, he said.
No postal jobs will be lost in Durango with the consolidation, Sperry said.
“Through our collective bargaining agreements, we have a process in place to make sure employees have a job in the Postal Service,” Sperry said.
The Durango Post Office on east Eighth Street will remain open as a post office and as a transportation hub. Delivery and retail operations will not be affected, Sperry said.
In May 2012, the Herald reported on a Postal Service announcement that Durango’s mail-processing facility would not be consolidated until 2014.
“The Postal Service’s dire financial condition required us to accelerate the consolidation of mail-processing operations from Durango to Albuquerque,” Sperry said.
daler@durangoherald.com
