Neither adverse weather nor gloom of night “stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” So it has long been said about messengers and mail carriers, from the time of ancient Greece to the modern day.
But there’s fear, particularly among the American Postal Workers Union’s Provo Local 42, that those “appointed rounds” may soon come with some significant delays.
“With little notice to the employees and no real notice to the community, the U.S. Postal Service announced their intention of removing all collected mail and the sortation and distribution 337 miles away to Las Vegas for most of the southern half of Utah. This includes all cities that begin with 847 zip codes from Beaver and Richfield south,” said Alice Clarke, president of Local 42. Additionally, she says, all areas with 845 and 846 zip codes — not including those within Utah County — would also have their mail routed to Las Vegas.
According to Clarke, Utah County mail, along with other areas further north into Idaho, would see their mail go to Salt Lake City’s sorting and distribution plant. Such a scenario has her worried that Utah residents could experience a delay of two days to up to two weeks in delivery, by her estimates.