MACON, Ga. — For your birthday, or to pay a bill, USPS says they deliver for you.
“Getting people's packages to them in a timely manner is extremely important,” says Kwajalyn Cornelius-Grace.
She's been a USPS worker for 30 years and is also Macon's American Postal Service Union president, and says the company is not delivering for its employees.
According to USPS' new plan, letters and packages are currently processed and distributed on College Street and Holt Avenue, but that will happen elsewhere now.
You may not notice a change, but Macon postal workers say they will.
The change may cost Macon dozens of jobs.
The United States Postal Service says they want to modernize how they deliver mail and that starts by changing their mail sorting operations.
“It will now be an LPC,” Cornelius-Grace said. “A Local Processing Center and that's totally different. That cuts out all of the packages."
So, if you send a letter in Macon, it'll now be picked up, processed in Atlanta, then sent back here. The same process happens with packages, too.
“It'll be collected in here in Macon, put on a truck, and sent to Palmetto,” she said.
That's the new facility the postal service is building almost two hours away, near Atlanta. Cornelius-Grace says Macon handles thousands of packages a month.
“Maybe a million, I don’t know,” she said.
That'll be cut down to zero.
She says that also cuts down on jobs. USPS says 30 jobs will need to go, but those people will be offered positions elsewhere.
“I am afraid to move my job,” USPS employee Jia Toomer said.
Toomer has been a postal worker for eight years, but she says no one's job is safe. Toomer says her whole life is here in Central Georgia.
“I can’t relocate. I have a mortgage," Toomer said. "Driving from Perry to Atlanta everyday?”
Valerie Slaughter, a worker for almost 30 years, is a single mother supporting her son.
“It's gonna give more opportunities for job employment. 3,000 jobs,” Slaughter said. “But not in Macon, Georgia.”
Cornelius-Grace says they'd like more transparency on when things will change and who will be let go.
“We understand things change. Nothing stays the same,” she said
However, they say they've been met with radio silence from management.
“Do I stay in the city where my family is, or do I leave for work? Without that, they’re just lost. Waiting for doomsday, waiting for the hammer to drop,” Cornelius-Grace said.
In a statement on the USPS website, they say the new operation will make delivering mail faster and save money.
They plan to reduce their staff in Macon by 32 people out of the 150 positions, but they say those numbers may change.
If you're concerned about this, Cornelius-Grace says there is a survey for folks to drop their comments for the postal service.
She says people can comment until August 23rd.
You can download the USPS's report about the mail processing facility here.