14 April 2015 (18:42 UTC-07 Tango 01, 13 April 2015)/24 Farvardin 1394/23 Jumada t-Tania 1436/26 Geng Chen 4713

So far no written shutdown notice has been issued for east Idaho’s Gateway Postal Processing Center, only verbal warnings that it will take place on 18 April 2015.  There are consistent reports from the contracted truck drivers, who make the Boise to Pocatello and Salt Lake City, Utah, to Pocatello runs: They are refusing to sign new contracts to run the new routes that postal administrators in Salt Lake City have created, and that the shutdown will be delayed at least until June as a result.

Drivers are reporting some of the new routes will have some of them sitting at processing centers for up to 28 hours, which means they’ll lose money.  Last week it was reported that a driver in the 834 zip code area of east Idaho quit (on that day the truck from the Driggs area supposedly never showed up at Gateway for the evening delivery).

Drivers making the Boise and Salt Lake runs are reporting that USPS loading dock personnel, in those cities, have not heard anything about the Gateway shutdown.

Mail arriving at Gateway in Pocatello, from Boise and Salt Lake City, continues to increase in volume, which seems counter productive if Gateway is to be shutdown at the end of this week.  Gateway employees are stressed because they’ve lost about half their manpower to “involuntary” transfers and early retirements, and supervisors are not being allowed to hire new employees.  Many employees are now working 10 to 12 hour days, six to seven days per week.

In an earlier posting I reported that east Idaho mail in the 834 zip code area will be sent to the main Post Office in Idaho Falls (IF) to be shipped to Salt Lake City.  Inside reports say management at the IF PO has issued a written statement to Salt Lake administrators saying they are incapable of complying due to logistical reasons; their loading dock is not big enough to handle all that mail.

It seems like a classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.  Until the remaining Gateway employees get written notices of layoff, or plant shutdown, they are in limbo working long hard hours, not knowing what to expect, and as a result not being able to plan for anything.  Welcome to the Hotel California.

USPS Network Rationalization Consolidation List Updated April 10, 2015 (this list now shows the Gateway Pocatello Processing Center to be listed as TBD; To Be Determined)

Confusion over plan for Petaluma mail facility

announcement confirming Gateway shutdown?

Santa Ana Postal District gets new 2-ton trucks, specifically for  Amazon

USPS to spend $6 billion buying new trucks, as it layoffs thousands of employees