Rep. Young offered the following resolution:
House Resolution No. 345.
A resolution to urge the United States Postal Service to reverse its decision to relocate certain mail processing services out of Detroit.
Whereas, The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced plans to move the Detroit mail cancellation activity to a new USPS center in Pontiac, Michigan. The new Pontiac processing center was built at an estimated cost of between $150 million and $225 million. It has been estimated that processing Detroit mail in Pontiac will save approximately $4.3 million annually. However, at the predicted rate of savings, it would take about 50 years to recover the cost of the new Pontiac facility; and
Whereas, All Detroit first class mail will be transported daily by private contractors 64 miles away to the Pontiac facility. There it will be cancelled and shipped back to the Detroit facility for distribution to local Detroit post offices. Furthermore, the Pontiac facility is located farther from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, where mail is regularly transported to be shipped by air. Ironically, the new money-saving process will result in a deterioration of efficient service; and
Whereas, the Detroit facility, the George Washington Young Post Office, handles a million pieces of mail per day and has earned a national postal efficiency award in each of the last eleven years; and
Whereas, The removal of jobs and mail processing from the city of Detroit is a serious blow to its economy and civic pride. First-class mail sent from the city of Detroit may soon bear a Pontiac postmark, affecting the sense of identity and location that is part of Detroit; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge the United States Postal Service to reverse its decision to relocate certain mail processing services out of Detroit; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the United States Postal Service.