Manzullo Hails USPS Decision to Keep Northern Illinois Mail Processing Operations in Rockford   

[Press Release]  Calling it a “colossal victory for the people of northern Illinois,” Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL) today announced the U.S. Postal Service has decided against a plan to transfer mail processing operations from Rockford to Palatine. As a result, residents and business owners in zip codes starting with 610 and 611 will continue to receive our nation’s best postal service through the Rockford facility.

Manzullo, who made the announcement during a Rockford news conference today, received a letter this morning from the USPS announcing the termination of the consolidation study. A copy of the letter is attached.

“This is a colossal victory for the people of northern Illinois and the hard-working Rockford postal employees whose jobs were threatened by the consolidation plan,” Manzullo said. “I want to thank U.S. Postmaster General Jack Potter and his staff for hearing us out and recognizing that this plan was a bad move, despite the fact that the USPS is under heavy pressure to reduce costs in this electronic information age. I want to thank Rockford Postmaster Ron Calloway for his leadership in running one of the most efficient postal operations in the nation, a major reason why the postal service terminated the consolidation plan.

“I also want to thank Gregg Voiles and his postal union colleagues, all the municipal and county officials who sent us resolutions of support, and all the northern Illinois residents and business owners who showed up in force June 6 to help us convince postal officials to terminate the consolidation study. This is a tremendous victory for those of us in northern Illinois who will continue to receive our nation’s best postal service from the tremendous workers and management at the Rockford postal facility.”

Last December, the USPS launched a study to measure whether it could save money without reducing service by transferring mail processing operations for eight counties (Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, JoDaviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Ogle and Lee counties) from Rockford to Palatine. The Postal Service was scheduled to announce its decision in January, but Manzullo intervened and convinced the U.S. Postmaster General to delay the decision and re-do the study with public input.

At the public forum in June, Manzullo assembled a group of area business owners, Rockford postal workers, local government officials, and citizens to help make the case why sending the mail through Palatine instead of the extremely efficient postal center in Rockford would cause significant delivery delays in northern Illinois. More than 500 concerned residents attended the public forum.

At the June public forum with USPS officials, Manzullo’s staff submitted several documents for the record, including petitions signed by 5,598 residents and business owners supporting continued mail processing in Rockford. The documents also included 36 resolutions of support Manzullo received from local governments in the region.