POCATELLO — Postal workers at the U.S. Postal Service mail distribution center on Flandro Drive are once again bracing for potential closure and planning a “Day of Action” on Nov. 14 to persuade U.S. Congress to take action to stop it.

The “Day of Action” will be held at the Pocatello mail distribution center from 4 to 5 p.m.

“We’re trying to get congress to sign a moratorium to hold off closures for a year,” said John Paige, president of the Idaho State Association of Letter Carriers.

Paige said Congressman Mike Simpson has signed on, but Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo have not.

Pocatello is just one of 82 distribution centers across the nation slated to be closed next year to save costs for the Postal Service. In the region, distribution centers in Pocatello, Provo, Utah, Rock Springs, Wyo., and Elko, Nev., would be closed and all 

activities would be shifted to the distribution center in Salt Lake City.

The decision to consolidate mail processing operations from Pocatello to Salt Lake City was made back in February 2012, according to regional spokesman for the USPS Brain Sperry. The end of mail distribution activities in Pocatello is slated for April 18, 2015.

“Phase one of the consolidations occurred in 2012 and 2013 with 141 mail processing locations being consolidated, saving the Postal Service approximately $865 million annually,” Sperry said.

The building at 1750 Flandro Drive in Pocatello would remain open as a post office, transportation hub and bulk mail entry unit, but Sperry said about 45 employees would be affected.

“As with all other past consolidations, we have been able to place impacted employees in other available positions without layoffs,” Sperry said. “Every effort will be made to reassign employees to other positions.”

Paige said he’s unhappy because closing the distribution center in Pocatello will slow down mail service in the area.

“Letters routed through Salt Lake City will take two to three days instead of one day,” Paige said. “The service standards will change for the worse.”

Sperry admitted mail service will suffer some.

“As for service impacts, typically stamped First-Class Mail currently takes between one and three days to reach its destination anywhere in the nation depending on the distance traveled; beginning in January 2015, it will take between two and three days to reach its destination,” Sperry said.

Sperry said changes to the USPS have become necessary because of a large drop in mail volume and revenue.

“To return to long-term financial stability while keeping mail affordable, the Postal Service must adjust to Americans’ changing mailing habits, he said.

Paige said he doesn’t think slowing the mail is a way to improve business.

“It would delay the mail, and that’s something we don’t want to do,” Paige said.

“The Postal Service is in the process of creating a lean, highly efficient and technology-centric operational and logistical footprint that will sustain the organization and the mailing and shipping industry for decades to come,” Sperry said.