Local P.O. pick-up time prompts changes

By NOREEN HYSLOP

Managing Editor

A change in the mail pick-up schedule at Dexter Post Office is having a significant impact in the way many local businesses conduct business, including The Daily Statesman.

There was no formal announcement or news release notifying the general public that rather than the multiple mail pick-ups at the local post office, there is now only one. The established routine now calls for one daily pickup at 11:30 a.m. for all outgoing mail.

The change comes in conjunction with the cost-cutting phase-out of the Cape Girardeau Post Office Distribution Center, where Dexter's mail typically headed for processing. It was announced in February that Cape's center would be phased out before the end of the 2013 year. In its place, mail from Dexter will be going to a site in downtown St. Louis for sorting.

The Cape Girardeau distribution center is one of 55 distribution centers nationwide whose original closing date of 2014 was moved up.

According to Richard Watkins with the US Postal Service Corporate Communications office in Kansas City, all mail -- even local mail with a 63841 zip code, will now be trucked to St. Louis for sorting before returning back to their hometown destinations.

"The latest collection time for mail at the Dexter Post Office is 11:30 a.m.," Watkins said Thursday, and he confirmed the change is a direct result of the Cape facility closing.

The change in pick-up time has resulted in a rush to the local post office before the lunch hour for local businesses. For the Daily Statesman, the change may prompt an earlier news deadline down the road. For now, however, business is as usual.

On the plus side, if changes are made down the line, papers will hit the stands earlier daily, and carriers whose schedules allow will have the paper in subscriber's hands significantly earlier than in the past.

"It's one of those things that we'll just have to abide by," Greer says, "as the economy forces more and more changes upon the newspaper industry. We'll do our best to continue to provide our readers the most up-to-date news in the most timely fashion that we can."

Watkins defended the postal service position, making note of the continuing losses the service faces on a daily basis.

"The Postal Service is always looking for ways to gain operational efficiencies," he noted Thursday afternoon. "There is a greater sense of urgency, given that USPS currently loses more than $25 million a day. Our most profitable category of mail --first class -- has declined by 28 percent over the past several years. USPS has reduced its cost base by more than $16 billion and reduced its career workforce by more than 200,000 (without layoffs) since 2006. These changes are an effort to keep mail affordable for all our customers. This is especially important since the USPS does not use taxpayer dollars for its daily operations."