During the 2022 PCC Leadership awards, the Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, provided the audience with an update on the 10-Year Delivering for America Plan. The event brought together leaders from the Postal Customer Councils to discuss critical topics like product strategy, electric vehicles, service expectations, and the introduction of the new Regional Processing Centers (aka mega-center) that are part of the USPS network realignment. You can watch the full video here to see DeJoy speak frankly about what he sees as the upcoming “transformation” of the Postal Service, how changes in the organization are a challenge, and about their success in delivery of free COVID test kits (in which they received 1.1 Billion dollars).
These 60 – 75 new multi-functional facilities will be designed to house all network originating and destination volume, package processing, cross-docking, and other functionality related to their specific region. This major initiative will replace the current NDC network, which has become redundant, costly, and outdated. In addition, these facilities have become a maze of obsolete equipment and cramped conditions for workers.
The proposed goal is to consolidate these redundancies into a modernized plant that uses “standardized processes” to make space more efficient. During the PMG’s speech, he referenced the success of updating the packaging handling process and mentioned the “randomness” issues in many postal facilities. The goal of the repurposed mega-centers is to solve these issues with a single-site solution that can process, sort, and send out mail for delivery.
The new one million+ square foot facilities will consolidate processing operations to a single location for a metro area. Initial mega-centers are being set up as pilot sites in Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Charlotte. DeJoy provided an example of one metro area (Atlanta) with over 165 post offices on one side of the city and the rest on the other, not including the eight additional processing plants scattered throughout. These locations require large amounts of transportation between each of the sites. Postal management has said it can consolidate these facilities with a single, modernized plant that uses “standardized processes ” to make space more efficient.
The realignment is expected to be mostly complete in 2-4 years.
Find out how mail tracking can help you combat the USPS network changes.