HAMPDEN, Maine — The USPS has decided to move forward with its plans to consolidate mail processing services at the Eastern Maine Mail Processing and Distribution Center in Hampden on Tuesday. Those services will now be transferred to its mail processing facility in Scarborough.
For years, mail in northern and eastern Maine has been processed and distributed from the Hampden facility. Now, with the recent changes, when Mainers in northern and eastern Maine send mail, it will be sent from the Hampden facility to southern Maine for processing before it is distributed to its final destination.
USPS said it will be investing $12 million into the Hampden facility, and consolidating the mail processing services will allow them to modernize and make updates to the Hampden facility. The center is the primary hub for mail in eastern and northern Maine.
The national mail service claims the consolidation will also help USPS workers improve mail and package flow throughout the region. Workers at USPS said the changes will only hurt employees and Mainers.
USPS held a public interest meeting in Brewer last month, hearing concerns from USPS union workers, Maine appointed officials, and community members.
President of the American Postal Workers Union for Maine and Portland area Scott Adams said he feels like USPS only held the public interest meetings to dot their I's and cross their T's, only checking off a required box and not truly listening to union workers.
"The gut feeling is that they're not listening, and they already have the script written," Adams said.
According to USPS's recent mail processing facility review, the consolidation could save USPS up to $540,000 annually.
Adams said USPS is too concerned about saving money and not concerned enough about supplying Mainers with adequate mail service.
"We're not in this to make money. the postal service is in this to provide a service, and sometimes it will cost," Adams said.
Several Maine leaders like Congressman Jared Golden, Senator Susan Collins and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows have also given USPS pushback regarding the decision.
Bellows said the decision does not prioritize Mainers and will only make sending mail slower.
"It's really astonishing that the USPS leadership is showing such disrespect to the postal workers and local leaders who know our communities best," Bellows said.
She said she believes it will not only make it harder for Mainers to send and receive mail but also disenfranchise voters who choose to vote by absentee ballot, explaining that she remembers a time when voters could receive their absentee ballots in the mail in one day and send their completed ballots back in the mail to arrive the next.
"That just doesn't happen anymore," Bellows said. "Now they guarantee it will be seven days. Well, if you're only getting the ballot the Thursday before election, which is when a lot of people ask for their ballots, seven days is going to make you miss the elections."
Adams said the changes could discourage Mainers from voting altogether.
"If you get to the point where you're four or five days away from it hitting the polling booth, you may not even vote," Adams said.
USPS said the changes are not expected to bring immediate layoffs, but Adams expressed distrust, explaining that he and other workers with the union are extremely frustrated.
Smith said he's thankful that elected officials have been so hands on in their attempts to prevent this decision, and he hopes that the changes will be reversed.