Postal Service to invest $5 million in Tallahassee facility to improve delivery service

Arianna Otero, Tallahassee Democrat
·2 min read

In what could be good news for frustrated residents, the U.S. Postal Service says it's putting $5 million into the Tallahassee Processing Facility on South Adams Street for "modernization efforts and deferred maintenance," according to a recent press release.

Carol Hunt, the Postal Service's strategic communications specialist, says the investment will "result in expanded and streamlined packaging processing," as well as "new workplace amenities ... such as new lighting, as well as renovated bathrooms and breakrooms."

Tallahassee's investment is part of a 10-year plan for USPS in which "the Postal Service is investing $40 billion to modernize the nation's aging postal processing and delivery network."

Since 2018, subpar mail delivery has been a point of contention for Tallahassee residents, many taking their complaints to social media and elected officials.

"This isn't obviously a new problem, this time last year it was really, really bad," said Leon County Commissioner Brian Welch, who has been advocating for better mail service since his election in 2020.

Even U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, who represents Tallahassee in Congress, has gotten involved with the issue, working with Welch and calling upon the U.S. Inspector General's Office to investigate the post office's shoddy service.

At the USPS townhall, Spencer Brass speaks to the audience of around 30 people the troubles he faces as a landlord of a USPS facility.
At the USPS townhall, Spencer Brass speaks to the audience of around 30 people the troubles he faces as a landlord of a USPS facility.

Postal Service: 'No career layoffs'

In November, USPS held a town hall at the LeRoy Collins County Library, looking to speak with residents and answer any lingering questions they may have. They shared what would become of the Tallahassee facility and employees.

"The initial results of the facility review support the business case for keeping the Tallahassee facility open and modernizing the facility as a Local Processing Center (LPC)," Hunt said at that meeting. "Additionally, the business case supports transferring some mail processing operation to the Jacksonville Network Distribution Centers (NDC)."

Their recent press release reaffirms this choice.

"The future Tallahassee LPC and Jacksonville NDC will be critical nodes in our network transformation plan," Hunt said in a prepared statement. "As part of this work, our goal is to reach 95% on-time delivery for all mail products."

Hunt also shared how there will be "no career layoffs," another piece of information they previously shared at the town hall.

Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com or on Twitter/X: @ari_v_otero.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: USPS to put $5 million into Tallahassee facility, improve service