Community officials are fighting to keep three U.S. Postal Service mail processing centers in Michigan open, and new federal legislation could boost their efforts.
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, and three of his fellow lawmakers introduced the bill — the Rural Postal Act of 2015 — last week.
“People across Michigan and the nation rely on the Postal Service to provide timely home delivery, from elderly Americans who depend on Social Security checks and prescription drugs to small businesses that need time-sensitive documents,” Peters said in a statement. “I’m proud to support this effort to protect the six-day delivery schedule and prevent the closure of rural postal facilities so that every community in Michigan has access to reliable postal services.”
If approved, the legislation would delay the closure of mail processing centers for two years. The postal service plans to shutter three Michigan facilities — one in Kingsford, near Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula, another in Lansing and a third in Oshtemo Township near Kalamazoo.
Peters said if those three centers are closed, only four processing centers will remain in the state.