McHenry County Blog

A press release from Congressman Don Manzullo:

Manzullo Responds to USPS Decision to Move Rockford Mail Operations to Chicago Suburbs

[ROCKFORD] – Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) issued the following statement today in response to the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to end mail processing operations in Rockford and move the work to Palatine and Carol Stream.

The Rockford sorting center currently serves residents in zip codes beginning with 610 and 611.

“We are saddened that the U.S. Postal Service has decided to end mail processing operations at one of our nation’s most efficient sorting centers in Rockford and move the work to the Chicago suburbs.

“We understand that the USPS is facing severe money shortages and must make difficult cuts, but we are frustrated that the USPS still has not shared with us the data that confirms closing Rockford will save money.

“We continue to seek that data so we can share it with the people of northern Illinois who will be affected by this decision.

“When Postmaster General Pat Donahoe toured the Rockford processing center with me last month, he said all employees who wanted to keep working for the USPS would be offered jobs in the area – albeit in different capacities — if the decision was made to end operations in Rockford.

“He also said he was confident that consolidating Rockford’s operations into Carol Stream and Palatine would allow the USPS to continue overnight delivery service to the region. We will hold the Postmaster General to his statements and monitor the situation closely as the consolidation ensues.”

There is a Federal requirement that campaign mail be treated just like First Class mail during the last three weeks or so before an election.

All a candidate has to do is put a special red tag on his or her bulk mail.

So, will either State Rep. Kent Gaffney or his opponent or County Board members Donna Kurtz or Ken Koehler file a formal complaint  against the delivery person who must have deliberately delayed their campaign mailings?

Kurtz and Koehler have nothing to complain about.

How much better can it be to get your campaign pieces delivered the day before the election.

Gaffney, however, has a complaint.

Three of his mailings got delivered today.

And, McSweeney, if I were he, I would be pitching a fit.

Seven, I counted them, seven of his direct mail pieces got delivered today!

The mailings probably didn’t make any difference to this voter.  He told me that McSweeney himself called and spent a half an hour answering questions.

Now, that’s high touch.

There was worse Postal service prior to my last election.

A delivery person in Lake in the Hills stuck 14 pieces of my campaign mail in boxes the day of the election.

I still remember the anguished call from a woman who voted before she read that I was Pro-Life and Rosemary Kurtz was Pro-Choice.

“But she told me that you and she agreed on the issue,” was the comment I still remember.

The third candidate for State Rep. in the district is Danielle Rowe.

I’ve been wondering why the Algonquin By-Pass  is proceeding so slowly.

Wish I could remember where I read that the Illinois Department of Transportation now has concluded it needs part of the Algonquin Post Office property.

Regardless, I decided to ask the Postal System for its viewpoint.

Here’s Bradford W. Meador Manager, Property Management, Great Lakes Facilities Service Office, wrote me (formatting by me):

“The IDOT proposal for both

• permanent taking, permanent easement and t
• emporary easement

of the postal service site are of concern to the postal service.

“At the moment, clarification is needed from IDOT as to why a permanent easement of almost one acre is needed for a portion of the site to the rear.  T

“The permanent taking which is in two locations of the postal service site is understood but not necessarily acceptable.

“One area of permanent taking in the rear of the site precludes any opportunity for parking expansion in the future for postal vehicles.

“The portion of the permanent taking with frontage on Route 62 removes the ability for customers and carriers to make a left turn on to Route 62 since a median is proposed.

“However, there is currently an ingress curb cut on the west end of the postal service site that will be retained and allow left turns on to Route 62 after the current customer parking is changed to 90 degree parking from angled parking.

“The current angled customer parking routes customers to the east egress point.

“Thus, left turns on to Route 62 will be one location rather than two which may create a longer exit time and potential safety issues for customers and postal vehicles.

“The temporary easement for five years is for most of the customer parking in the front of the Main Post Office which will create a challenge for customer parking during those five years.

“The next step in this process will be to clarify these concerns to IDOT and meet to resolve how to move forward since IDOT can not apply condemnation rights against the U S Postal Service.”

These two press releases from Congressman Donald Manzullo tell something about Rockford’s decreasing desirability as a hub for mail and packages distribution. The Post Office  hearing press release came yesterday.  The one below came today.

One can easily surmise that this is only the beginning of the downsizing of the Postal System.

Manzullo Asks USPS to Work with Him
to Keep Open Rockford Sorting Center

Moving postal operations to WI would delay mail delivery to northern IL

[ROCKFORD] – Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) tonight asked U.S. Postal Service officials to keep open its postal consolidation study and work with him to find alternatives to closing the Rockford sorting center, which would eliminate 200 local jobs and delay mail service to residents and business owners in eight northern Illinois counties.

Manzullo, who addressed USPS officials at tonight’s public comment session on its proposed move of Rockford sorting operations to Madison, Wisconsin, said the Rockford sorting center continues to be one of the most efficient in the nation and should not be closed. He again asked the USPS for information it has been withholding that would help local officials present alternatives to closing Rockford.

“We all know the U.S. Postal Service is facing very troubling times, but it makes no sense to close the most efficient sorting center in the nation, send the jobs from Rockford to Wisconsin, and delay mail delivery to residents and business owners in eight northern Illinois counties,” Manzullo said. “I am asking the USPS to keep the Rockford study open, and continue to work with us to get the data we need to find alternatives to putting 200 more people out of work and delaying mail service in northern Illinois.”

At the meeting, Manzullo presented USPS officials with resolutions of support approved on very short notice by 17 communities in northern Illinois. The closure of the Rockford sorting center would delay mail delivery to the eight counties served by zip codes beginning with 610 and 611. Those counties include Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, JoDaviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Lee, and Ogle.

In a letter to Postmaster General Pat Donahoe earlier this year, Manzullo explained how he worked with Rockford postal officials during the last consolidation study in 2006 to present alternative information that convinced the Postal Service to abandon its plan to move Rockford mail processing operations to the Chicago suburbs. Local officials again need to see the USPS data comparing operations in Rockford with Madison so they can correct it if necessary.

Manzullo has been working with U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) to seek alternatives to closing the Rockford sorting center. Manzullo, Durbin and Kirk met with Postmaster General Pat Donahoe on Nov. 1 to share their concerns with the potential move of operations to Wisconsin and the damage it would cause to northern Illinois.

Manzullo Asks USPS to Work with Him
to Keep Open Rockford Sorting Center

Moving postal operations to WI would delay mail delivery to northern IL

[ROCKFORD] – Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) tonight asked U.S. Postal Service officials to keep open its postal consolidation study and work with him to find alternatives to closing the Rockford sorting center, which would eliminate 200 local jobs and delay mail service to residents and business owners in eight northern Illinois counties.

Manzullo, who addressed USPS officials at tonight’s public comment session on its proposed move of Rockford sorting operations to Madison, Wisconsin, said the Rockford sorting center continues to be one of the most efficient in the nation and should not be closed. He again asked the USPS for information it has been withholding that would help local officials present alternatives to closing Rockford.

“We all know the U.S. Postal Service is facing very troubling times, but it makes no sense to close the most efficient sorting center in the nation, send the jobs from Rockford to Wisconsin, and delay mail delivery to residents and business owners in eight northern Illinois counties,” Manzullo said. “I am asking the USPS to keep the Rockford study open, and continue to work with us to get the data we need to find alternatives to putting 200 more people out of work and delaying mail service in northern Illinois.”

At the meeting, Manzullo presented USPS officials with resolutions of support approved on very short notice by 17 communities in northern Illinois. The closure of the Rockford sorting center would delay mail delivery to the eight counties served by zip codes beginning with 610 and 611. Those counties include Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, JoDaviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Lee, and Ogle.

In a letter to Postmaster General Pat Donahoe earlier this year, Manzullo explained how he worked with Rockford postal officials during the last consolidation study in 2006 to present alternative information that convinced the Postal Service to abandon its plan to move Rockford mail processing operations to the Chicago suburbs. Local officials again need to see the USPS data comparing operations in Rockford with Madison so they can correct it if necessary.

Manzullo has been working with U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) to seek alternatives to closing the Rockford sorting center. Manzullo, Durbin and Kirk met with Postmaster General Pat Donahoe on Nov. 1 to share their concerns with the potential move of operations to Wisconsin and the damage it would cause to northern Illinois.

Earlier this decade there was an attempt to close the Rockford sorting center, merging it with Palatine and Congressman Don Manzullo kept it open.

Now the Post Office has the facility in its sights again, as you can tell from Manzullo’s latest press release.

Manzullo Demands to See USPS Data Supporting Closure of Rockford Mail Processing Center

Rep. also requests 1-month delay of Dec. 8 public hearing to analyze data

[ROCKFORD] – Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) is demanding to see the data the U.S. Postal Service is using to support the closure of the Rockford mail processing center and its move to Madison, WI.

Manzullo also wants the public hearing – required as part of the consolidation study – to be postponed from Dec. 8 to early January to give local officials time to analyze the data and offer alternatives to shuttering the local facility and sending nearly 200 jobs north to Wisconsin.

Such a move would also cause delays in mail delivery to homes and businesses in the eight northern Illinois counties (Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, JoDaviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Ogle and Lee counties) currently served by Rockford.

In a letter to Postmaster General Pat Donahoe, Manzullo explained how he worked with Rockford postal officials during the last consolidation study in 2006 to present alternative information that convinced the Postal Service to abandon its plan to move Rockford mail processing operations to the Chicago suburbs.

Local officials again need to see the USPS data comparing operations in Rockford with Madison so they can correct it if necessary.

And once they get the information, they need time to analyze it.

That’s why Manzullo is requesting that the public hearing scheduled for next week at the Clock Tower Resort be moved to early January.

“The Rockford processing center was under a similar review six years ago and we found that the data in the previous USPS was incorrect, and resulted in keeping the Rockford facility open,” Manzullo said. “It is impossible to effectively offer comment on a proposal without knowing the assumptions and information that underlie the proposal.”

The Rockford mail processing center is consistently rated among the most efficient centers in the nation, and Rockford workers provide excellent overnight delivery service to their customers in zip codes starting with 610 and 611. Manzullo is working with U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) to keep the jobs and overnight delivery service in northern Illinois. Manzullo, Durbin and Kirk met with Postmaster General Pat Donahoe on Nov. 1 to share their concerns with the potential move of operations to Wisconsin and the damage it would cause to northern Illinois. During the meeting, Donahoe said he would share the study data with the Members of Congress.

With a smiling postal worker asking Congressman Joe Walsh if he will protect her job in the Gurnee video that went viral, it’s time to remind  you how politicians would win if Saturday mail delivery disappeared.

And this comes from someone who remembered the days when the Postman came twice a day to his childhood Easton, Maryland, home.

This article first ran in March of 2010:

You might expect that McHenry County Blog would look at things from a political viewpoint.

Politicians love to have third class mail delivered on the Monday before the election.  Anna May Miller must have thought she won the lottery when that happened to her county board mailing in Algonquin.

Why?

It results in their getting the message to constituents as close as to the election as possible…unless one has people standing in front of polling places.

If a campaign could take its last mailing to the post office on the Saturday before the election, Monday delivery could be expected.  That’s because for the last two or so weeks of a campaign, political mail, properly red tagged, is treated like first class mail.

Call it a citizenship subsidy.

Or you could think of a more pejorative description, I guess.

The problem is that virtually all bulk mail specialists work from Monday through Friday.  It’s one of the perks of the job.

Now, the post office is talking about no deliveries on Saturday.

That means campaign mail posted on Friday will be delivered on Monday in most instances, instead of Saturday.

This past year the only way to make sure your message got delivered on Monday was to put an insert in the Northwest Herald.  (Any of you remember when Mark Sweetwood went ballistic when a political insert was delivered in the Cary area under his reign?  He vowed it would never be done again.  Current management seems to have reversed that revenue-deriving practice.)

If the post office ends Saturday delivery, there will be competition for the NW Herald. 

I suspect it will be more expensive than the price to insert, but mail certainly would reach more of the target audience.
= = = = =

In Eric Zorn’s column above, he notes that twice a day delivery ended in 1950.  I’m old enough to remember the postman coming twice a day to our home at 212 South Aurora Street in Easton, Maryland.  I’m not old enough to remember when the seven-day delivery schedule ended in 1912.

A video taken by Round Lake Beach District116.orgblogger Gene Carey of Round Lake Beach last weekend in Gurnee’s Uno Chicago Bar & Grill made not only ABC News in Chicago, but also MSNBC and Fox News.

The clip used featured a short part of one of Congressman Joe Walsh’s small group meetings in coffee shops, bars and other local gathering places. In Crystal Lake he has held them at Country Donuts and Walker’s Pancake House.

These typically last about an hour and can get heated.

In the instance featured, Walsh was talking to postal worker Melissa Rakestraw, who admitted not voting for Walsh in 2010.

Having attended the two Crystal Lake events, I can tell you that Walsh relishes defending his conservative positions.

And I never saw him lose his cool, as one headline put it.

The postal worker wanted to know Walsh’s position about saving jobs in the Postal System.

Walsh did not give her the answer she was seeking.

It was a bit over a year ago that McHenry County Blog broke the story that the Cary Post Office was up for sale.

Deliveries would originate in the Crystal Lake Post Office, although there would be a store front in Cary somewhere.

It’s been a bad year for real estate and the Postal System has decided to take the property off the market for the time being.

The system is in the midst of a massive downsizing.

There are 35,000 post offices now.

Ten years from now, the plan is for there to be less than half as many–about 16,000.

“Stamped for Success” is the message on the bag that held our mail when we returned from Disney World.

That’s what the post card that Cary “Postal Patrons” received late this week said.

You see the message below. (click to enlarge):

The Postal System is just trying to make “better use of our real estate holdings.”

“The post office has more space than it needs for its retail counter services in Cary,” so the current building will be sold and new facilities for post office boxes and purchasing stamps will be rented elsewhere in Cary.

As told Monday on McHenry County Blog, mail delivery staging will be moved the the Crystal Lake Post Office.

“Let me emphasize again, the Cary Post Office is NOT closing,” District Manager Robert Hart emphasizes.

Customers will notice no difference in delivery, he adds.