U. S. Post Office threatens hundreds of jobs in the City of Redlands

By Paul Barich

The Federal Government is about to decide if it should stay or go, a decision that will effect hundreds if not thousands of residents in the Redlands area. While unemployment in the Inland Empire still hovers at an all time high and the government feigns at efforts to put a finger in the hole of the unemployment dike the U. S. Post Office is ready to drop the axe on hundreds of jobs by closing the distribution center in Redlands and rerouting the mail processing to smaller facilities further south or east.

While meetings have indicated that if Redlands processing is closed a portion of the handling will go to neighboring Moreno Valley, a smaller facility, just twenty miles away, that facility smaller in size will not be able to handle the volume.

While the outrage of no more first class delivery and the inconvenience to bulk rate customers is bad enough the real insult is the hundreds of workers who will have to relocate or lose their jobs should the decision to close be made regarding the Redlands site.

In the real business world it would make better sense to close the satellite offices and bring operations back to the larger base. But trust the Federal Government to over think the solution and impact the lives of hundreds of citizens and leave a gapping hole in the economy of a town that is already struggling to stay afloat.

Should the guillotine fall and the center close yet another building will stand empty and surrounding businesses will be affected. The burger joint and sandwich shops who have served those postal workers breakfast lunch and dinner for years will wonder not where the beef went but where the customers went? The gas stations and retailers will find a significant drop in sales when that many customers leave en mass. The housing market will take a hit as workers will either be forced to relocate, sell or simply walk away.

U. S. Post Office you are talking about hundreds of jobs and impacting thousands of people you need to be very sure you are not making a knee jerk decision but considering the bigger picture and influence on so many lives.