MIDLAND, Texas — Postal service and delivery in the Permian Basin could be set to improve moving forward. The United States Postal Service is in the process of reviewing the Midland Processing and Distribution Center, and initial findings suggest a change in current operations.
The USPS is undertaking an extensive process that looks to better postal efficiencies in West Texas and beyond. About three years into a 10-year, $40 billion investment, the USPS aims to improve their transportation networks and cut down on costs. A $13-to-$15 million investment to modernize the Midland facility could be a part of that.
Mail is always on the move, but how it moves could change.
“We expect that our service will continue to improve," said Mary Steelman, Fort Worth executive plant manager for USPS. "So, the mail that is collected locally and going out to the world would be processed and transferred to the Amarillo P&DC (Processing and Distribution Center), and the LPC (Local Processing Center) will be focused on those 'destinating' volumes – those 'destinating' letters, flats and packages.”
Under these proposed changes, Midland’s facility becomes a Local Processing Center, or LPC, that only distributes mail either to Amarillo or West Texas, rather than out to the world.
“The outgoing process being transferred to Amarillo gives us an opportunity to gather the outgoing mail from it’s surrounding LPC’s [and] process that mail," Steelman said. "We’ll have fuller trays, we’ll have fuller transport equipment [and] we’ll have fuller trucks moving across the country.”
Steelman sees this as mutually beneficial for West Texans.
“The 'destinating' mail will not be affected; the 'destinating' mail will stay here, and we expect that the service will be better," Steelman said. "The focus will be on the local mail – the community’s mail.”
The community’s mail moving quicker to it’s destination.
“The proposed changes as a result of the review I think will be a real positive impact on the community," Steelman said. "It will be a better workplace for the employees, we expect service to get even better than it already is and there will be an opportunity in the future for same-day and next-day delivery.”
This investment would also co-locate the LPC with a new Sorting and Delivery Center, or S&DC, a facility that creates more efficiencies and services for local businesses and customers. The review has not been finalized yet as it is currently in the public feedback stage that runs until March 8th.
For more information on these potential changes and to submit written comments, click here.