Shutdown the Palatine Processing Facility?

The USPS announced plans to shut down the Palatine Processing Facility recently. Why should you care? Well, I will tell you. All mail in this area—from Evanston to Elgin will then go through the Carol Stream facility. This will delay local mail by a minimum of one day. That’s bad. There is a possibility of a logjam at the Carol Stream Processing Facility.

For those of us who mail information, there is a bigger problem. There is a possibility of delays and added costs. Many businesses are built around supporting mail in this area. We will be left high and dry.

I feel this will have long lasting detrimental effects on mailing. At this time when the USPS is seeing declining mail volume and revenues, they need to innovate and be creative. Cutting services, hours of service, raising prices, adding layers of difficulty to creating bulk mail will only hasten the decline of the Post Office.

By the way, Kim Pohl of the Daily Herald interviewed my for a marketer/mailers perspective. Look for it in an upcoming paper.