Post Office Spares Ax For Letter-Processing Center in Bronx

The U.S. Postal Service confirmed Nov. 21 that it would not move letter-processing work from a facility in The Bronx to the Morgan Processing and Distribution Center in Manhattan.

JOSé E. SERRANO: 'Consolidation the wrong move.'

The New York Metro Area Postal Union and several elected officials had opposed the move, saying that it would delay delivery times in The Bronx and save the service an insignificant amount of money in the long run. The consolidation was also estimated to have led to the loss of 78 jobs, although the USPS insisted it would simply have moved some workers to different titles.

'Negatives Outweigh Savings'

Last year, a group of elected officials said in a letter to the Postmaster General "we do not believe that $4.5 in annual savings — in the context of the USPS's annual operating budget of more than $72 billion — justifies the overwhelmingly negative changes that will occur as a result of the implementation of this consolidation plan."

U.S. Rep. José E. Serrano of The Bronx welcomed the news.

"Today is a great day for The Bronx," he said in a statement. "We are going to keep our mail-sorting facility and the corresponding jobs right here in The Bronx. We knew that consolidation was the wrong move for a variety of reasons. The community came together to oppose the consolidation and deserves the credit for this victory. From my seat on the [U.S. House] Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, I was able to bring the community's concerns directly to the Postal Service management, but without the group effort we would not have won today."