Earlier this week, House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy expressing concern about the United States Postal Service’s proposal to shift Western Slope mail processing operations from Grand Junction to Denver. As part of the USPS’s national strategy dubbed Delivering for America, the agency proposes changing the Grand Junction Processing and Distribution Center from a regional to a local mail processing center. The Grand Junction facility currently processes mail and packages for communities across the Western Slope.

Assistant Leader Neguse’s letter follows reports that the proposed changes could lead to job losses and exacerbate mail delivery delays and other service deficiencies in western Colorado.

“I write to express my deep concerns about proposed changes to the USPS Grand Junction facility from a regional to a local mail processing center and the resulting proposed relocation of mail processing operations from this facility to one in Denver. I urge you to reconsider any changes that would exacerbate mail delivery performance issues in Colorado’s Western Slope communities, as many of these communities already experience significant service problems.” 

Rep. Neguse has repeatedly implored USPS to address ongoing performance issues and customer service problems in Colorado’s mountain communities. After he and other Colorado lawmakers issued repeated requests for service improvements, the USPS Office of Inspector General conducted an extensive audit and released the report, “Delivery and Customer Service in Colorado Mountain Towns.”

“The proposed change to the Grand Junction facility operations, however, would require mail from Western Slope communities to be sent hundreds of miles over the Continental Divide to be processed in Denver – along highways that regularly experience closures and delays due to winter storms, wildfire, rockslides, and heavy traffic – even when its destination is on the Western Slope. In these rural areas, detours can be hundreds of miles long and over high mountain passes. Given these substantial transportation challenges, this proposal to send local mail from the Western Slope to Denver and back again would seemingly cause major delays for many residents and businesses. [...] While I appreciate the need for the Postal Service to continue to work toward financial stability, it cannot come at the expense of Colorado’s rural small businesses, seniors, and families.” 

Read the full letter HERE.

Congressman Neguse has urged the USPS to improve their service in many of Colorado’s mountain communities, including in Routt County, which he welcomed to Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District at the start of the 118th Congress. In April of last year, he visited the Steamboat Springs Post Office to listen to citizens’ concerns about the Postal Service, P.O. box fees and the condition of the downtown Steamboat Springs facility. Recently, following a letter penned by the Congressman, addressed to the agency’s senior management, USPS announced it will move forward with eliminating annual P.O. box fees for eligible residents of Steamboat Springs. In 2023, Rep. Neguse was successful in getting USPS to restore 24/7 access to P.O. boxes at the Dillon Post Office and getting the Grand Lake Post Office to provide package pickup service on Saturday mornings.