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Most West Virginians have a pretty good idea what the federal government and its partner agencies think of us. (We also know that SOME of our reputation is earned.) But while we were busy bracing for reported tornadoes, derechos, heavy rain and flooding that has demanded our full attention for days, the U.S. Postal Service made an insulting and damaging move.
On April 2, the U.S. Postal Service went ahead with its decision to convert the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center into a Local Processing Center.
Now, rather than being distributed from Charleston, all the state's mail will have to go from Charleston, then through Pittsburgh. Many of us in the Northern Panhandle have experienced this for years, of course, but for those in the lower parts of West Virginia, it may be problematic.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. let loose with his frustration, calling the move "a slap in the face."
"Not only is this transition an injustice to the West Virginians who work at the facility and the families and businesses who rely upon timely mail service, it is also economically irresponsible," Manchin said.
Predictably, the USPS dressed up its ugly decision by claiming the move will actually be good for us. Manchin was having none of it.
"Every piece of our mail will now have to travel hundreds of miles from Charleston to Pennsylvania, where both the cost of living and operating a facility are significantly higher, and then back to West Virginia. Simply put, the assertion by the Postal Service that their decision will improve service for West Virginians is completely false," he said.
What can be done now? Well, Manchin has an idea. Remember, it has been only a couple of years since Congress had to bail out the USPS because it was viewed as an essential service.
"Today's decision directly defies the Postal Service's self-proclaimed mission of reliably serving every community, and I will be asking for a complete audit of the services being given in exchange for the money taken," he said.
Surely there will be others who agree with him. The USPS has demonstrated it isn't terribly worried about fulfilling that mission, and that providing prompt, efficient service to West Virginia isn't a priority. Other regions and states will no doubt suffer the same fate soon enough, if the USPS is allowed to continue on this path unsupervised.