Residents of Springfield and central Illinois may soon see increased delays in receiving their mail and packages as the United States Postal Service plans to restructure their postal network outside of Illinois. 

The United States Postal Service, or USPS, has proposed a new network consolidation plan to change 58 processing and distribution centers in smaller Illinois communities. These distribution processing centers will be converted into local mail processing centers.

Voting: ‘Ready to put in our two cents.’ First-time Springfield voters make their way to the polls

In the decision, Springfield, Illinois and other central Illinois packages and unprocessed mail will be redirected to the nearest processing distribution center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Incoming mail and packages will thus be processed in a different state with a different postal district than Illinois.

On March 15, U.S. Representatives Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, and Mary Miller, R-Oakland, sent a letter to Postmaster Louis DeJoy about the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to downsize the Springfield, Illinois processing and distribution center. 

“While we are encouraged that USPS is looking to implement modernization strategies, the potential impact this change would have on regional employment and already lagging delivery rates in Central Illinois must be clear before USPS can move forward with this proposal,” the lawmakers said.

Budzinski also noted the removal of Springfield’s PDC on top of making delays longer, will relocate dozens of jobs from central Illinois to St. Louis. 

“If this plan were to be implemented, a significant number of the facility’s over 130 career employees would likely be asked to either change jobs or move to other facilities,” Budzinski wrote in the letter. “It is also possible that this would include some employees being asked to move over 90 miles and across state lines.”

In a news release from the Office of the Mayor Misty Butcher, residents who don’t want to see their mail distributed out of St. Louis can take the first step by reaching out to elected representatives. Feedback to USPS directly can be made at the company’s comment portal at surveymonkey.com/r/mpfr-springfield-il.

Residents can also voice their concern at the post office’s public meeting on March 26 at 6 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn at 3100 S. Dirksen Parkway.

Claire Grant reports business with the State Journal-Register: CLGrant@gannett.com; X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted