Postal Service opinion piece contained misleading information

The recent opinion piece, “Postal Service changes bring new meaning to ‘gloom of night,” has misleading information, which has been shared many times with the public by unreliable/unofficial sources.

Setting the record straight, the correct information is as follows:

• The Medford facility is not closing. It’s being modernized/updated into a local processing center (LPC). A fact which has been stated multiple times to reporters.

• Prior to the conversion, some mail was already being sent to Portland. Allegations of slowdowns are unfounded.

For the record, on average, from the start of the fiscal year (Oct. 1) through Feb. 23, 2024, mail sent/delivered within the 975 ZIP Code area and the state, took less than two days. Nationwide, destination dependent, that time is less than five days.

The “implementation” is called Local Transportation Optimization (LTO), and it is part of USPS’s larger effort to optimize truck capacity and reduce the overall number of carbon wasting, duplicate trips.

Under “Delivering for America,” the 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence, we are maintaining universal six-day mail delivery while expanding seven-day package delivery, stabilizing our workforce, and spurring innovation to meet the needs of our customers.

Transportation is being optimized, ensuring we continue meeting the published mailing/shipping product service standards.

USPS doesn’t expect these efforts to impact customer service as it continues its focus on improving service reliability for our customers by modernizing the outmoded operations across the nation.

Kim Frum / Portland

USPS spokesperson