NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - On Thursday, many people voiced their opinions about the changes coming to the North Platte Processing and Distribution Center at the USPS public meeting.

“USPS needs to be investing in more jobs and people here,” said North Platte local. “Especially, because this community is growing and we’re going to need the help, and moving that mail to Denver is not what this community needs and everyone else is investing here and y’all need to as well.

The changes are part of a $40 million investment in hopes of improving postal services across the country. The U.S. Postal Service announced in January that it is conducting an evaluation of current operations and potential future users of the local facility.

According to the USPS press release, this specific facility review will inform the best allocation of resources and strategies to improve customer service and achieve significant cost savings through operational precision and efficiency.

Future of Facility

The North Platte P&DC will remain open and will be modernized. It will be repositioned as a Local Processing Center for destination mail processing. It’s expected that this facility will be a critical node in the unified movement of mail and packages across the regional processing and transportation ecosystem.

Local Customers

· Retail and other services currently available at the North Platte P&DC will not change.

· Business mail acceptance will remain the same.

· A local postmark will continue to be available at retail post offices.

· Delivery times of mail to residents and businesses shouldn’t change throughout this review.

Commercial Mailers

· Mailers who presort mail will continue to receive appropriate postage discounts.

· Mailers who drop ship to Destination Sectional Center Facility (DSCF) can expect no changes if the MPFR is approved.

Nebraska Federal Delegation closely monitoring the situation with the North Platte Post Office

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - Earlier this year the United States Postal Service announced the conducting of an evaluation of current operations and potential future uses of the processing operations from Lincoln County to Denver, Colorado.

Nebraska U.S. Senator Deb Fischer, like many fellow Nebraskans, was very concerned upon discovering the announcement. ”Once again Rural America seems to be the target. Whenever the Government is looking at ways to make cuts, it always seems to focus on Rural America; that is not right. All Americans should be able to have certain access to governmental services. I wanted to make sure that services would still be provided for people in the western part of the state, and we finally did get a response and learned that the change is related to modernization, a modernization plan by the Postal Office,“ said Senator Fischer.

The initial results of the facility review support the business case for keeping the North Platte facility open with the modernizing of the facility and with a simplified process and standardized layouts. However, Senator Fischer still has some concerns.

”I am concerned though that we were first told that there would be no layoffs, and now we’re being told that we might be losing six jobs in the area due to this modernization. The loss of any job is a hardship, but we want to keep our eyes on this and keep our fingers on the tab of what is happening with jobs especially that is important to me because of how it can impact a community, especially one the size of North Platte. It obviously affects the family if someone loses their job and we want to make sure that we know what is going on there,” said Fischer.

The Lincoln County-based postal facility is not the only one in the nation possibly undergoing major changes. ”I think under the plan that the Postal Service has: there is going to be about 190 of those throughout the Country. North Platte will be one of those, Denver will be the major vocal point and there’ll be 60 of those around the Country, but we are not going to lose the facility,” said Fischer.

Senator Fischer encourages her constituents to reach out to her or her office with further questions or concerns. ”My staff knows that this is a priority for me and a priority for the State of Nebraska, and it is especially a priority for the Western Part of the State and the community of North Platte, so we are going to keep our eyes on this,” said Senator Fischer. We have a good delegation representing the state here in Washington D.C., and we do stay in touch with each other. Our staff work together, not just in Washington, but in Nebraska as well. So we’ll be in contact with Senator Ricketts and Congressman Smith; we will show a strong united front in dealing with this and again we want to make sure that we have not just our questions answered, but your questions too,” said Fischer.

North Platte and Lincoln County officials share some of the concerns expressed by the Nebraska Federal Delegation. Learn more about the proposal here.