Last week, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), member of the Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, released the following statement on the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) decision to convert the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) into a Local Processing Center (LPC).
“Let me be perfectly clear: yesterday’s decision to downgrade the Charleston Processing & Distribution Center to a Local Processing Center is a slap in the face of every West Virginian that spent their Valentine’s Day at a public meeting to make their voices heard. Not only is this transition an injustice to the West Virginians who work at the facility and the families and businesses who rely upon timely mail service, it is also economically irresponsible. Every piece of our mail will now have to travel hundreds of miles from Charleston to Pittsburgh, where both the cost of living and operating a facility are significantly higher, and then back to West Virginia. Simply put, the assertion by the Postal Service that their decision will improve service for West Virginians is completely false.
“Just two years ago, Congress had to bail out the Postal Service because it was hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. We did so because of the essential services it provides to communities, especially rural ones, but that historic investment of taxpayer dollars came with an obligation to address the concerns of American taxpayers when making major decisions. This is clearly not the case, as this downgrade comes after months of strong opposition from thousands of West Virginians through the public comment period, as well as from our bipartisan Congressional delegation. Yesterday’s decision directly defies the Postal Service’s self-proclaimed mission of reliably serving every community, and I will be asking for a complete audit of the services being given in exchange for the money taken.”
