Bipartisan Opposition Fails to Deliver, USPS Announces Move Of Reno Mail Processing To California

This article has been edited to include public comments from Senator Jacky Rosen

Despite bipartisan opposition, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced they are transferring Reno’s outgoing mail processing to Sacramento, CA.  The Reno processing center will reportedly be modernized as a Local Processing Center (LPC) and will undergo an approximate $13.4 million makeover for “expanded and streamlined package and mail processing and distribution capabilities for the facility.” The multi-million dollar makeover will include renovations to employee bathrooms, break rooms, new lighting, and new electric vehicles and charging stations.

USPS additionally notes that a majority of mail and packages received at the center are destined outside the Reno area and consolidating plant operations will allow the Reno LPC to be co-located with a Sorting and Delivery Center (S&DC). “These facilities will allow the Postal Service to provide faster and more reliable mail and package delivery over a greater geographic area. S&DCs will have upgraded sorting equipment, offer Same Day or Next Day delivery options, and provide better facilities for Postal Service employees,” USPS said in a press release. (see below)

As part of a $40 billion investment strategy to upgrade and improve the postal processing, transportation, and delivery networks, the United States Postal Service announced its plan to modernize mail operations at its Reno Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) in Reno, NV.

The announcement comes following a thorough business review and solicitation of public feedback on the facility’s future. In addition to determining the facility will remain open and modernized as a Local Processing Center (LPC), the business case supports transferring mail processing outgoing operations to the Sacramento P&DC in West Sacramento, CA. Currently, a majority of mail and packages are destined outside the Reno area to the rest of the world.

The investment in the Reno facility is a part of the Postal Service’s 10-year Delivering for America (DFA) plan to improve organizational and operational processes and actively make the Postal Service an efficient, high-performing, world-class logistics and delivery provider.

The Postal Service will invest up to $13.4 million in the Reno LPC, which will result in expanded and streamlined package and mail processing and distribution capabilities for the facility. These investments include $8.4 million for modernization efforts and deferred maintenance. For example, these funds will be used for new workplace amenities for Postal Service employees such as new lighting and renovated bathrooms and breakrooms.

In addition, consolidating plant operations will allow the Reno LPC to be co-located with a Sorting and Delivery Center (S&DC). These facilities will allow the Postal Service to provide faster and more reliable mail and package delivery over a greater geographic area. S&DCs will have upgraded sorting equipment, offer Same Day or Next Day delivery options, and provide better facilities for Postal Service employees.

S&DCs will be equipped with the necessary infrastructure to support the deployment of the Postal Service’s new Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and charging stations. In locations where BEVs will be used, the Postal Service will upgrade and develop the infrastructure required for their effective deployment. Based on the average deployment numbers at S&DCs, new vehicle investment in BEVs is around $5 million per site. The S&DC that will be co-located with the Reno LPC will have 219 delivery routes that are eligible to be serviced by BEVs.

The S&DC will also feature evolving USPS’s self-service tools and technology to give customers added services and new choices in how they ship and receive packages.

Back in February, Congressional representatives Mark Amodei, Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto sent a letter of opposition to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy highlighting their concerns over USPS’s proposed transfer.

In their letter, the bipartisan delegation stressed “the potential impact of such changes to mail service reliability, the local economy, and jobs in the community” and voiced their frustration related to the lack of transparency related to the USPS decision. They noted that the over 220,000 Nevada veterans who receive their life-saving medications through the mail may encounter significant delays, and further emphasize the winter weather conditions between Reno and Sacramento that would impede the two-day mail delivery standard, “a standard that USPS already struggles to meet.”

Last winter, Interstate 80, the main freeway connecting Northern California to Northern Nevada, was closed for three days in March due to a blizzard.

We have a brilliant idea, Louis…

Let’s move the @USPS Reno mail processing facility to…..Sacramento!

In the winter months, the trucks may jackknife, spin-out in a blizzard, or be stranded during a road closure, but we will be saving $3 mill! https://t.co/brDogIjMvY

— Nevada Globe (@NevadaGlobe) March 2, 2024

The elected officials further emphasized that “sending over one hundred thousand mail- in-ballots from Nevada to California before they are sent back to Northern Nevada is extremely concerning to election officials in the state.”

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, Washoe County Interim Registrar Cari-Ann Burgess, the Washoe County Commission, and Governor Joe Lombardo raised similar concerns.

In a letter to Postmaster DeJoy, Aguilar said, ““I can’t fathom how I would explain to my constituents that their mail …was trapped in the snow in the mountains due to a rushed process and lack of foresight,” and asked USPS to “come to their senses.”

In an interview last month with the Reno Gazette Journal (RGJ), Burgess warned, “It’s going to be terrible for our elections. To be honest with you, I wouldn’t even put it in the mail,” she said of the upcoming November election ballot. “I would drop it off at one of our vote centers.”

Shortly after their announcement, Senator Rosen took to X (formerly Twitter) and slammed “out-of-touch” Washington bureaucrats and vowed to keep fighting “against this misguided decision.”

Let me be clear: this fight is NOT over yet.

As a member of the committee with jurisdiction over the Postal Service, I will continue to fight against this misguided decision and explore all available options to prevent it from being implemented.

— Senator Jacky Rosen (@SenJackyRosen) April 23, 2024

This is a developing story…