The United States Postal Service (USPS) recently announced processing operations will remain at the Fort Myers postal facility.
“This decision to leave those operations in Fort Myers is made possible due to a proposed operational strategy aimed at increasing efficiency, improving service quality and saving USPS an additional $3 billion per year nationwide,” a Postal Service release said.
According to the release, this proposed strategy is under review by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
The change would enable USPS to absorb the cost of continuing to provide local cancellation service for the area, meaning they would not need to relocate local originating mail processing operations outside of the Fort Myers facility. If mail is being delivered from one address in Fort Myers to another, it would not need to leave the area for processing.
Bob Shepherd, owner of a local property management company, deals with mail almost daily. As a property manager, he gets monthly payments through the mail.
“Locally, the mail seems to be pretty quick, like if it's in Lee County, or if it's from Collier to Lee or, if it's even in the state of Florida, it seems fast in state or in county,” Shepherd said. “I have a lot of problems when I have stuff coming out of state from different [states] like Michigan and Minnesota and Oregon, things like that. Mail takes forever to get here.”
Once the facility becomes a Local Processing Center (LPC), it will be able to handle package mailing and shipping, letters and flats.
The USPS announced in April it would invest $26.3 million into the Fort Myers LPC. This will include $12.3 million in modernization efforts and deferred maintenance, such as new lighting and renovated bathrooms and breakrooms and $9 million to purchase various mail sorters for the facility.
The USPS generally does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
According to the release, the Fort Myers LPC will be co-located with a Sorting and Delivery Center (S&DC) to allow the USPS to provide faster service over a larger area. This center would be equipped to support the USPS’ battery electric vehicles and charging stations.
Cape Coral resident Marvin Hernandez Jr. mostly orders various parts for his car from eBay. The website provides many shipping carriers, such as the USPS, to transport and deliver items.
“I’d say it (the speed of mail) really depends on what I order,” Hernandez said. “Sometimes I order bulky items like an A/C compressor or a short shifter for example, and other times it’s smaller accessories like stickers and t-shirts and those get here a lot quicker.”
The release said there would be no anticipated employee impacts.
“The Postal Service is focusing on enhancing package processing and shipping capacity,” the release said. “This could potentially lead to increased plant activity and a future need for additional staffing support.”
However, with the high volume of visitors Florida has during peak tourist season, some think the lack of staff support is apparent.
“Off-season it's pretty good because it doesn't seem like the volume is as high, obviously, because our population is almost cut in half, but in season is definitely lacking,” Bob Shepherd of the property management company said. “I don't know if they should hire more people or do it as a seasonal thing. Sometimes different stores will hire seasonally for Christmas or whatever. Maybe the Postal Service could do that, or maybe they do, but we just don't see the effects of it.”
The Delivering for America plan is a 10-year plan published in March of 2021 that outlines strategies and initiatives for the USPS.
"Our proposed operational strategy, which is currently under review by the PRC, will generate substantial savings for the Postal Service. This strategy provides a solution that will ensure our organization can cover the cost of local originating mail processing operations in the Fort Myers facility,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in the press release. "Moreover, our Delivering for America plan is channeling $26.3 million into upgrading the Fort Myers facility. This investment goes beyond just enhancing the work environment for our employees. It's about equipping the facility with the necessary technology and resources to deliver top-notch service to the local community for the foreseeable future."
The release said these changes would occur sometime after the general election, but did not give a specific date.
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