Local area mail potentially detoured to Indianapolis en route

Bloomington might soon disappear from the map. The future of the city's postmark remains up in the air.\nThe Monroe County Commissioners intend tonight to endorse an objection to a plan to shift the postmarking of mail from all 474 ZIP codes to Indianapolis -- even mail sent locally, to another 474 code. \nBloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan and the Monroe County Council has already come out against the plan, part of a streamlining overhaul by the United States Postal Service. Currently, Bloomington has one of the 300 postmarks in the United States.\nThe plan could cost several local jobs, public officials say.\nPostal service officials announced in December they would conduct a feasibility study. They said they might be able to maximize efficiency by consolidating the mail-processing operation with Indianapolis.\nWith the increasingly wide use of e-mail and online bill-paying, the postal service has seen a decline in revenues in recent years, chiefly from the falling volume of First Class mail. It seeks to cut out $5 billion in operating costs by 2010 to ensure cheap service for its customers, spokesman Azeezaly S. Jaffer said in a statement.\nHit hard by rising fuel costs, the service also must shoulder a congressional mandate to put $3.1 billion in escrow annually to fund its pension obligations, which takes effect this year. \nOnce the study is completed, Bloomington Postmaster Larry Jacobs said the plan would still require approval from the district office and headquarters in Washington, D.C.\n"I'd never say never," he said. "It still might not go through. It's not totally a done deal."\nKevin McCaffrey, Maintenance Craft Director of the local 2122 American Postal Workers Union, said the plan, if enacted, could cost 12 post office jobs and eventually as many as 50 from the area. While the affected postal workers would not be laid off, they would be forced to transfer.\nSuch a move would also hurt service, McCaffrey said.\n"They want to cart the mail on a 100-mile round trip to do what we already do here," he said. "Service is going to suffer."\nMcCaffrey noted the postal service tried such an arrangement in 1991. It returned the processing to Bloomington the following year after an influx of complaints.\n"I've done 24 years in the service, and I've seen this before," he said. "They're just going to change the service standard."\nIndianapolis already postmarks 474 mail sent out on Saturday because of the diminished volume, Jacobs said. The Vernal Pike facility also handles the sorting of incoming local mail.\nThe union recently conducted a study of its own, tracking letters addressed locally sent out on a Saturday. Most arrived on Monday, but McCaffrey said many took as long as six days to reach their destination.\n"It was strictly non-scientific," he said. "But the official USPS numbers put Bloomington in the top 10 percent nationally for sorting productivity. We're already doing a better job of it than Indy"