Changes to operations at the United States Postal Service facility in Hampden have been delayed for another year following pushback from Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King.
The postal service announced a plan to move some mail processing operations from Hampden to southern Maine on April 10, despite objections from workers and state leaders, including Rep. Jared Golden.
The plan would convert the Hampden facility into a local processing center, with outgoing mail processing operations moving to the Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Scarborough.
Golden called the plan “unacceptable to Mainers who rely on timely mail service” for paying bills and receiving medication in an April statement.
On Tuesday, U.S. Postmaster Louis Dejoy released a decision to delay the facility changes until Jan. 1, 2025, while agreeing to delay changes at other facilities across the nation throughout the rest of the year.
“This USPS pause is welcome news for the people of Maine,” Collins said Tuesday afternoon.
“As I have said repeatedly, any consolidation of Maine’s two USPS processing facilities located in Hampden and Scarborough would jeopardize the reliable delivery of mail, including medication for Mainers who rely on mail order pharmacies and deliveries from federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs for their prescriptions.”
