Postal Service To Consolidate Seven Facilities

The U.S. Postal service has decided to consolidate a number of mail processing centers in Kansas and move some of the work to Wichita.

In all, seven processing centers in Kansas would be affected.

Salina Processing and Distribution Facility, Hutchinson Customer Service Mail Processing Center, Hays Customer Service Mail Processing Center and Dodge City Customer Service Mail Processing Center would be consolidated with work moving to the Wichita Processing and Distribution Center.

Colby Customer Service Mail Processing Center work would go to North Platte, Nebraska.

Liberal Customer Service Mail Processing Center work would go to Amarillo, Texas.

And Topeka Processing and Distribution Facility work would go to Kansas City, Missouri.

So far, there is no word on how many jobs will be lost in the seven towns or how many will be gained in Wichita.

The USPS studied 264 processing facilities for possible consolidation. Of those, six are on hold for further study, 35 will remain open. The rest will be consolidated.

According to the USPS, these "changes are contingent upon a final decision to change our service standards for First-Class Mail."

It hopes to implement the changes during the summer and fall.

The USPS is consolidating the facilities in an effort to save money. It has been losing money steadily over the last few years, as many people turn to the Internet to stay in touch and to pay bill.

The Postal Service projects the consolidations will save it $2.1 billion.