The US Post Office is planning to send more mail to its troubled St. Louis distribution center.
State Comptroller Susan Mendoza says the ill-advised decision to close the Springfield, Illinois distribution center leaves Illinois’ state capital without a distribution center for state payments.
Mendoza has sent a letter to US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, expressing concerns that vital payments to home health care and childcare providers, state vendors, emergency child support and even tax refunds could be delayed. She says it is unfortunate these very real concerns were not addressed.
Mendoza questions how anyone with a straight face that sending the mail from the Springfield area 100 miles south to St. Louis before it can be shipped back north again will not delay delivery to Illinois residents, two-thirds of which are in Northern Illinois. The comptroller’s office sends out about 11,000 checks a day, or three million a year, around the state. Mendoza says it’s imperative they arrive on time.
The comptroller says US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy should focus on improving service and efficiencies rather than encumbering Illinois residents with further delay.
The move by the postal service comes as the St. Louis Distribution Center continues to struggle with handling its current volume of mail. Local postal officials often blame slow arriving mail service on delays at St. Louis.
