USPS to move regional mail and package processing from Grand Forks to Fargo

Mar. 27—GRAND FORKS — The U.S. Postal Service has decided to move regional mail processing from Grand Forks to Fargo.

As part of a nationwide facility review, known as the MPFR, the U.S. Postal Service looked into Grand Forks' current processing of regional mail and packages. The nationwide facility review is part of the Postal Service's modernization effort under the Delivering for America Plan; Grand Forks' report was released on Tuesday, March 26.

The initial findings showed support

for moving regional processing from Grand Forks to Fargo and the final report concurred.

When the changes will go into effect was not given in the report.

Grand Forks will be repositioned as a local processing center, meaning it will still sort letters and flat-rate mail to local mail carriers but much of its package and regional mail processing will be moved to Fargo, 76 miles away.

The Postal Service said in the report that there should be no change to customer service and that local postmarks are still available.

"The Grand Forks facility will remain open and be modernized as a local processing center," the report said. "This go-forward plan for the Grand Forks facility will help the U.S. Postal Service achieve the core goals of our Delivering for America plan: financial sustainability for our organization and improved service reliability for our customers."

A facility review was also done in Bismarck at the same time as Grand Forks. That final report was also released on Tuesday and supported moving its regional mail and package processing to Fargo. Once the changes are implemented, nearly the entirety of North Dakota's regional mail and package processing will be centralized in Fargo in a regional processing and distribution center.

The facility review began in November and the Postal Service held public meetings in December. The Postal Service

refused to answer questions during those meetings,

brushing off questions from people like Western Regional Director for Sen. John Hoeven Shari Buck and Grand Forks Herald Publisher Korrie Wenzel. It also did little to tell people that the public meetings were happening.

According to the Postal Service, there will be no career layoffs in Grand Forks as part of this plan. Moving mail processing from Grand Forks to Fargo is expected to save the Postal Service $330,000 to $440,000 annually with the biggest savings being in maintenance and management costs. The savings are less than in the initial findings, where $500,000 to $670,000 were expected.

The North Dakota — Minnesota District is currently

undergoing an audit on operations

and reports of mail delays which is expected to be complete in May. The Postal Service inspector general

is also looking into the facility review process

.

Hoeven's office also secured public meetings to discuss the findings with local stakeholders and plans to follow up with the Postal Service.

"Sen. Hoeven raised concerns with the MPFR process with Postmaster General DeJoy on January 19, stressing potential impacts to mail service in Grand Forks and Bismarck as well as USPS' inadequate engagement with local stakeholders regarding the proposed changes to mail processing," the statement from Hoeven's office said. "In that conversation, he secured a commitment from DeJoy for USPS to meet with local stakeholders and answer questions once USPS issued its final decision on the MPFR. With USPS issuing its "decision to proceed" with the MPFR yesterday, our office has followed up with USPS on the Postmaster General's commitment and is working to identify a time and location for the public meeting. We will continue working to ensure local concerns are addressed."