After a bipartisan group of U.S. legislators, including South Dakota’s delegation, raised concerns about the impact on mail deliveries, the U.S. Postal Service has agreed to “pause” a controversial plan to downgrade post office operations in Sioux Falls and Huron to local processing centers, joining similar implementation delays in other states. In a response letter, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he would pause the consolidation of processing facility operations until at least January 2025.
On April 12, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) led a letter with U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) to DeJoy urging the Postal Service to avoid downsizing or significantly reorganizing mail processing operations in South Dakota.
“We share your belief that all Americans deserve the U.S. Postal Service’s highest service standards,” the delegation wrote. “We also recognize that some infrastructure changes may be necessary to mitigate USPS’s financial pressures. However, such changes should not come at the expense of rural and highly rural populations in South Dakota or similar states.”
“We believe that further curtailment of processing operations in South Dakota could yield additional delays and costs,” the delegation continued. “Specifically, with mail being rerouted out of state, we are concerned that added delays stemming from adverse weather would affect rural towns, other small communities and tribal nations across South Dakota.”
Postage increases for newspapers to be reviewed this summer
This summer, the Postal Regulatory Commission will review the regulations that permit USPS to require postage increases for newspapers twice a year. Postage for Periodicals has increased by more than 35% since 2021. For some newspapers, including the True Dakotan, the increase was even higher.
USPS has intentionally slowed the delivery of newspapers. The official delivery standard was slowed by only a day, but actual delivery is much slower for most newspapers.
In order to help the Commission understand how the decline of mail service has hurt the newspaper industry, the True Dakotan is one of many South Dakota NewsMedia Association member newspapers participating in a National Newspaper Association-led effort to write and file letters on the record with the Commission.
“This review can’t come soon enough,” said Kristi Hine, True Dakotan Editor/Publisher. “We are facing another scheduled rate increase this July which amounts to an almost 10% bump for community newspapers that already pay high rates for subpar service. The July rate increase means newspapers are paying about 50% more for postage than a mere three years ago.”
Look to upcoming editions of the True Dakotan for further USPS updates.