Senate Voices Support For South Charleston Mail Center Facing Downsizing

A controversial plan to move West Virginia’s only mail processing center to neighboring Pennsylvania brought a storm of backlash for the United States Postal Service (USPS).

The fallout in late 2023 led USPS officials to suggest instead downsizing the South Charleston center, and moving select operations out of state. But lawmakers are critical of the idea because of the economic opportunities the center currently provides.

On Friday, the West Virginia Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 16, which expressed support for the center’s preservation in Kanawha County.

Sen. Eric Nelson Jr., R-Kanawha, said that the center’s location in West Virginia reduces shipping times for West Virginia, and provides important employment opportunities for West Virginia families.

“We’ve talked about so many economic benefits of new jobs here in the last three or four years,” Nelson said during the Senate’s legislative session on Friday. “Well let’s talk about job retention: 800 jobs and their families and those that they touch.”

The USPS will host a meeting at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center on Jan. 30, where it will accept public comments on current plans.

Nelson encouraged fellow lawmakers to attend the meeting and show their support for local postal workers.