Washington, DC – (Thursday, January 5, 2012) –Today, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson acknowledged her support for the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Report on the Postal Service’s Retail Access Optimization Initiative (RAOI). The report outlined significant miscalculations in the USPS’s methodology for indentifying over 3,600 post offices and other retail branches for possible closure.

The Dallas Processing and Distribution Center and four retail branches in the 30th Congressional District are being considered for closure or relocation under the existing RAOI. Several smaller branches in the District have already closed or have been consolidated.

“These recent findings by the Commission align with my initial criticisms,” said Congresswoman Johnson. “Aside from the obvious job implications for tens of thousands of hard-working Americans, this attempt to reduce costs would only drastically cut services for businesses and individuals that rely heavily on the Postal Service, but not actually resolve the agency’s problem of avoiding insolvency.”

Congresswoman Johnson has met with USPS leadership in Dallas and Washington, DC since 2009 to avert any postal closures in the 30th Congressional District. Citing the same concerns as the PRC panel, Congresswoman Johnson has been vocal in her opposition to the method which the post offices were being selected. The USPS has since announced a moratorium on any post office closures until May 15, 2012.

The full report on the Postal Regulatory Commission can be found here.

Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) tonight asked U.S. Postal Service officials to keep open its postal consolidation study and work with him to find alternatives to closing the Rockford sorting center, which would eliminate 200 local jobs and delay mail service to residents and business owners in eight northern Illinois counties.

Manzullo, who addressed USPS officials at tonight’s public comment session on its proposed move of Rockford sorting operations to Madison, Wisconsin, said the Rockford sorting center continues to be one of the most efficient in the nation and should not be closed. He again asked the USPS for information it has been withholding that would help local officials present alternatives to closing Rockford.

“We all know the U.S. Postal Service is facing very troubling times, but it makes no sense to close the most efficient sorting center in the nation, send the jobs from Rockford to Wisconsin, and delay mail delivery to residents and business owners in eight northern Illinois counties,” Manzullo said. “I am asking the USPS to keep the Rockford study open, and continue to work with us to get the data we need to find alternatives to putting 200 more people out of work and delaying mail service in northern Illinois.”

At the meeting, Manzullo presented USPS officials with resolutions of support approved on very short notice by 17 communities in northern Illinois. The closure of the Rockford sorting center would delay mail delivery to the eight counties served by zip codes beginning with 610 and 611. Those counties include Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, JoDaviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Lee, and Ogle.

In a letter to Postmaster General Pat Donahoe earlier this year, Manzullo explained how he worked with Rockford postal officials during the last consolidation study in 2006 to present alternative information that convinced the Postal Service to abandon its plan to move Rockford mail processing operations to the Chicago suburbs. Local officials again need to see the USPS data comparing operations in Rockford with Madison so they can correct it if necessary.

Manzullo has been working with U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) to seek alternatives to closing the Rockford sorting center. Manzullo, Durbin and Kirk met with Postmaster General Pat Donahoe on Nov. 1 to share their concerns with the potential move of operations to Wisconsin and the damage it would cause to northern Illinois.

The Postal Service Center closure meeting in Springfield MO was a very eye opening success but not for the officials from the Postal Service.

Many locals from Small business owners, to Chamber of Commerce representatives, to Congressmen and Senator representatives, even live animal shippers voiced their concerns and the fact they will feel direct impacts against their businesses.

Read more: USPS Center Closure Meeting | Occupy 417.