WTVM.com and WTVM News Leader 9, Columbus, GA | Postal Workers Plan Picket

Postal Workers Plan Picket

If a plan to consolidate post offices is followed, all mail coming to Columbus will have to go through Macon first. According to the local postal workers union, that could delay your mail for up to a week.

Columbus is just one of one hundred and thirty nine communities the United States Postal Service has targeted for consolidation.

Forty cities on that list already have seen that happen. The local union doesn't want Columbus to be number forty-one.

On any given day, several hundred residents use the post office on Milgen Road...whether it's to simply drop off a letter or buy stamps. Don't expect any of that to change, but how fast your mail gets to its location could.

"Our mail will be slower, up to a week slower," said Shirley Garris, Local 118 President.

According to Shirley Garris, president of the local postal workers union, Columbus is on a "secret" list to consolidate with Macon. A list that wasn't made public until the national union found out about it. They now have it posted on their website.

"The postal service seems to think that the consolidation will make the postal service run more efficiently, but there is no proof of this," said Garris. 

The Postmaster's office in Columbus forwarded us to the South Georgia Postal District Office in Macon. According to a spokesperson, Columbus has nothing to worry about.

Communication specialist, Donna Ricks, says quote,"Columbus is not in any immediate plans of doing any consolidation."

Garris doesn't believe that.

"I find that funny because they never told us they were panning to consolidate us, had it not been for the union we would not know," said Garris.

If this plan goes through that means even if you mail a letter to a location in columbus it still has to go to Macon first.

But the union won't let this happen quietly. They will picket the Milgen Road Post Office Thursday.  And they're asking for your help. Call your congressman to voice your opinion about the consolidation.