Companies that rely heavily on the U.S. Postal Service are worried about how their business will be affected if South Bend's mail processing center shifts to Fort Wayne.
What does it take to be Elkhart County's largest mailer? Giant drums of ink and a machine capable of spitting out 500,000 catalogs in minutes helps Lithotone.
"We do quite a volume of business mail each week," said Mark Baumgartner, mission coordinator for Lithotone. "We're a commercial printer. We print all kinds of literature and magazine publication work."
Things there run like a well-oiled machine.
Baumgartner says the goal there is simple ... work fast and get the product out faster, but there's one thing that can bring all of it to a standstill.
"Delays – obviously the biggest issue," said Baumgartner.
Baumgartner expects delays with South Bend's USPS mail processing center moves to Fort Wayne.
"We really hate to see that being affected," Baumgartner said.
It was easy for Baumgartner to get his product out, thanks to South Bend's processing center, but if Congress approves the postal service's plan it will mean the end of next day local delivery.
Instead of a cross-town trip if you live in South Bend, Mishawaka or Elkhart – your mail will travel across the state to Fort Wayne to be processed. Then trucks will drive the mail back to South Bend for delivery.
"The Post Office actually comes here to weigh and pay mail, we don't know how that's going to be affected," Baumgartner said. He was also worried about transportation.
Baumgartner say he'll try his best to adjust, but for the sake of his business and customers, he'll keep all of his options open.
Among the options are other delivery services like Fed Ex and UPS, but Baumgartner said those companies are not as economical.
