U.S. Rep. McSally Leads Effort to Support Tucson Mail Processing Center

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Martha McSally (R-AZ) today led an effort by members of the Arizona delegation to call on Postmaster General Megan Brennan to revisit decisions that would consolidate operations at the Cherrybell Processing & Distribution Center in Tucson, effectively terminating all operations there. In a letter co-signed by Representatives Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), and KyrstenSinema (D-AZ), Rep. McSally and her colleagues requested the factors and metrics used to justify the closure of the Tucson facility and urged Postmaster General Brennan to visit Tucson to see the impacts of the closure first-hand.
“Southern Arizona businesses, residents, veterans, and senior citizens rely on the Tucson Postal Processing & Distribution Center/Cherrybell for timely and reliable mail service that delivers everything from our veterans’ medications from the VA to Social Security payments,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
In February 2012, after completing a review of distribution operations, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced it would move all mail processing operations from the Tucson Processing and Distribution Center to Phoenix. USPS continued steps toward closing the center in 2013 and 2014, with full consolidation projected for July 2015.

“As shifts and changes have invariably occurred since the original Area Mail Processing (AMP) analysis was conducted in 2011, we seek to understand the factors and metrics used for USPS to justify proceeding with closure of the Tucson facility within the context of the national network,” the lawmakers continued. “It is confounding how other areas of the country with populations smaller than the state of Arizona – such as Vermont and New Hampshire – can be judged to have two processing facilities when a state twice their size and population, with a projected growth rate of 17 percent by 2030, would only have one.”

Residents and businesses in Southern Arizona already have reported experiencing delays in mail delivery from previous consolidations. The lawmakers closed by inviting Postmaster General Brennan to see the impacts of those delays and the center’s closure first-hand: “We invite you to visit Tucson, as nothing would please us more than to have the chance to host you on site so that you might witness what we are reporting.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Martha McSally (R-AZ) today led an effort by members of the Arizona delegation to call on Postmaster General Megan Brennan to revisit decisions that would consolidate operations at the Cherrybell Processing & Distribution Center in Tucson, effectively terminating all operations there. In a letter co-signed by Representatives Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), and KyrstenSinema (D-AZ), Rep. McSally and her colleagues requested the factors and metrics used to justify the closure of the Tucson facility and urged Postmaster General Brennan to visit Tucson to see the impacts of the closure first-hand.

“Southern Arizona businesses, residents, veterans, and senior citizens rely on the Tucson Postal Processing & Distribution Center/Cherrybell for timely and reliable mail service that delivers everything from our veterans’ medications from the VA to Social Security payments,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
In February 2012, after completing a review of distribution operations, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced it would move all mail processing operations from the Tucson Processing and Distribution Center to Phoenix. USPS continued steps toward closing the center in 2013 and 2014, with full consolidation projected for July 2015.

“As shifts and changes have invariably occurred since the original Area Mail Processing (AMP) analysis was conducted in 2011, we seek to understand the factors and metrics used for USPS to justify proceeding with closure of the Tucson facility within the context of the national network,” the lawmakers continued. “It is confounding how other areas of the country with populations smaller than the state of Arizona – such as Vermont and New Hampshire – can be judged to have two processing facilities when a state twice their size and population, with a projected growth rate of 17 percent by 2030, would only have one.”

Residents and businesses in Southern Arizona already have reported experiencing delays in mail delivery from previous consolidations. The lawmakers closed by inviting Postmaster General Brennan to see the impacts of those delays and the center’s closure first-hand: “We invite you to visit Tucson, as nothing would please us more than to have the chance to host you on site so that you might witness what we are reporting.”