Community Efforts Saved Postal Facility

On Thursday morning, the US Postal Service announced it was closing eight previously identified postal facilities and consolidating those operations with other locations.

The lone survivor of these cuts was the San Bernardino Processing and Distribution Center in Redlands. It was both a joy and relief for many in the Inland Empire.

“This means that 700 jobs stay here in Redlands,” said Kathy Thurston, executive director of the Redlands Chamber of Commerce. “We’re delighted with the outcome.”

Last year, US Postal officials placed the Redlands center on a list of facilities that could be closed as part of cost cutting measures. The Post Office has been dealing with a financial crisis. It’s billions in the red and has suffered a 25 percent decline in first-class mail volume since 2006, due in part to recession and email -- but also due to an obligation to prefund retiree health benefits decades in advance of a hiring.

This motivated the entire community, according to several of those involved, to participate in the effort to save the center.

“The fact that they kept the Redlands plant open is due to public pressure and the unions and even the entities that are not on the same page, such as the chamber of commerce,” said Jerry Ryan, president of the San Bernardino Chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

All banded together because they recognized the devastating impact a closure like this could have on the community, he said. It not only would have displaced more than 700 workers, it would have financially impacted the businesses surrounding the facility, Ryan said. The center is at 1900 W. Redlands Blvd.

“There was a tremendous effort that was generated in lobbying to save this particular processing center and it paid off,” Thurston said. “We had every elected official from Washington down to (San Bernardino) county lobbying for the correct decision to be made.”

Mayor Pete Aguilar sent a letter US Postmaster General Patrick Donohue asking him to consider the harm it could do.

“It’s a big deal,” Aguilar said. “This is very important for Redlands. Preserving those 700 jobs is important to Redlands and important to the local economy. And this shows what we can do when we work together.”

Local officials, working with congressional representatives, came together to advocate for jobs in the region, Aguilar said.

While there was reason for joy in Redlands, others were obviously not as fortunate, Ryan said. The City of Industry Processing and Distribution Center was among the locations marked for closure after May 15, though California Secretary of State Debra Bowen is calling for closures to be .

The crisis currently gripping the Postal Service was created by a mandate to prefund future retiree benefits which could cost billions over the next 10 years, Ryan said.

Postal workers continue their fight against legislation that would do away with door-to-door delivery and Saturday service, Ryan said. The union is also fighting some legislators who want to privatize the postal service, which Ryan said could affect how many services are offered.

“We’re not here just for profit,” Ryan said. “The Postal Service is in the constitution. It’s not supposed to be for profit. It’s supposed to serve the public. And it served it well until this new (prefunding) law.”

The Postal Service is not taxpayer funded. It is supported through the sale of postage, postal products and services.