SOUTH BEND – Businesses that send mail to make money are worried about what postal service cost cutting and changes will mean for their business.
It normally takes the post office one or two days to deliver a letter but if the postal service gets their way people could wait even longer. Bulk mailers, like Mail Data 2020, are not happy about it since universities and non-profits turn to their company to spread the word.
“It’s our responsibility to get their message out in a timely manner,” said Lind Rost, who owns Mail Data 2020.
Rost said his company handles, on average, three million pieces of mail each year and it relies heavily on the US Postal Service.
Almost everything done at the facility is sent to South Bend's Mail Processing Center, one of the 252 facilities nationwide that could close for good. The USPS is proposing to change first class delivery standards from 1-2 days to 2-3 days.
Rost says his clients are asking a lot questions about it but he does not have all the answers.
“Our clients are real nervous. They are asking what they can do to get their message out in a timely manner.” he says. “We’re telling them that they’re going to have to mail a little earlier.”
Not only will businesses feel the delay in sending out mail but it will also affect the rest of us. “It’s going to be a whole lot different, said Mark Winters, a USPS customer.
WSBT is learning that the US Postal Service has narrowed its decision about the future of the mail processing centers in Indiana of those that are at risk of closing for good.
As early as February, we will know whether South Bend's processing facility stays or goes.
