DURANGO, Colo.—The Durango mail center is moving sorting operations to Albuquerque, N.M., saying there is not enough work to justify having a center in southwest Colorado.
U.S. Postal Service spokesman Brian Sperry said in an email the changes are part of plans by the agency to cut costs by $20 billion by 2017.
Delivery and other services will not be affected, the Durango Herald reported Monday ().
“We must match our network to the anticipated workload,” Sperry said. “As part of these changes, mail-processing operations in Durango are tentatively scheduled to be consolidated into our Albuquerque plant on Sept. 28.”
A year ago, the Postal Service said the change would not occur until 2014. Sperry did not say Friday why the closing of Durango’s mail-processing was moved up, or how that will affect the length of time it will take mail to get to and from Durango.
A study released in 2011 said the Postal Service would save about $500,000 a year if it moved some of its operations to New Mexico.
Postal officials said moving Durango’s mail processing to Albuquerque would take advantage of that facility’s faster, more efficient sorting equipment and larger staff, which are currently underused because of the decline in mail volume
The downtown Durango Post Office will remain open as a post office and as a transportation hub.
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Information from: Durango Herald,



