Washington, DC - Postal Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Thomas G. Day and Commissioner Ashley E. Poling recently toured two U.S. Postal Service processing facilities to witness, first-hand, ongoing network changes made by the Postal Service as part of its Delivering for America plan.

Guided by a senior postal official on January 17, Vice Chairman Day and Commissioner Poling toured the Postal Service’s newly constructed Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto, GA. The tour took place from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.—peak hours for some of the busiest processing intervals and a key period for incoming and outgoing transportation. As of that date, package processing was operational, but the letter and flats operations were still undergoing installation.

On January 19, the two Commissioners visited the Postal Service’s first Sortation and Delivery Center in Athens, GA. During their 6 a.m. tour, they observed the Postal Service’s delivery unit package sortation operations along with the routine preparation of mail delivery carriers for their daily routes. They also viewed the new charging infrastructure for future electric postal delivery vehicles.

“Commissioner Poling and I are thankful to the Postal Service for their assistance and cooperation in setting up a visit to these two new, widely-discussed facilities in Georgia. A special thanks to the management and staff at these two facilities who took the time to explain the operations and answer our questions,” said Vice Chairman Day. “These are the front-line employees of the Postal Service who make the system work. The visit to these two facilities allowed us to better understand and personally observe how the new network conceived under the Delivering for America plan is being implemented.”

In early 2023, the Commission established a Public Inquiry docket to examine recent and planned changes to the Postal Service’s mail processing network and how those changes might affect service on a nationwide level.

The Postal Regulatory Commission is an independent federal agency that provides regulatory oversight over the Postal Service to ensure the transparency and accountability of the Postal Service and foster a vital and efficient universal mail system. The Commission is comprised of five Presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed Commissioners, each serving terms of six years. The President designates the Chairman. In addition to Chairman Michael Kubayanda, the other commissioners are Vice Chairman Thomas Day and Commissioners, Ann Fisher, Ashley Poling, and Robert Taub. Follow the PRC on Twitter: @PostalRegulator and LinkedIn.