SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Mail processing centers in Aberdeen and Pierre , are among the 140 slated for consolidation by February. Nearly 250 centers will close as the nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service moves forward with a multibillion-dollar cost-cutting plan. The Postal Service on Thursday said it can no longer wait as Congress remains deadlocked over how to help. Processing at Aberdeen and Pierre will shift to Huron. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says the agency’s mail processing network had simply become too big, given declining first-class mail volume and mounting debt. There is no word yet from the Postal Service if this move means the Dakota Central Facility in Huron is itself safe from being shut down.
It will now consolidate nearly 250 plants as originally proposed, including 48 this summer, but will stretch out the remainder in 2013 and 2014.