Deirdre Shesgreen

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service chief said Thursday there is no chance the Springfield mail processing center will be spared from closure, rebuffing a request from congressional lawmakers to delay the agency's consolidation efforts.

"It has to happen," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said when asked about the impending closures at Springfield and other processing centers.

The postal service targeted the Springfield mail center as part of a broader downsizing sparked by a drop in mail volume and a congressional requirement that the service pre-pay most of its retiree health benefits. The Springfield facility is one of 82 mail centers set to close next year. Most of its operations and jobs likely will move to Kansas City.

Donahoe said mail volume has "dropped off completely in those areas" where plants are scheduled to be closed. There's "no reason" to keep such facilities open, he said.

His comments, made during a Thursday interview with USA TODAY, came after Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., wrote Donahoe asking him to hold off on the consolidations. That Dec. 1 letter, also signed by 28 other senators, said the agency has not adequately examined the impact the closures would have.

They also pointed to a report by the postal service's inspector general that found the agency didn't complete federally mandate feasibility studies.

On Thursday, Donahoe said the targeted facilities handle only about 4 percent of the postal service's total mail volume, and the closings will have "a minimal impact."

He said more people are paying bills online now and are using email and other tools to communicate. As a result, overall mail volume has dipped 30 percent since 2006, according to the postal service.

"You have to make adjustments, and that's what we're trying to do," said Donahoe. "Our future is going to be seven-day (a week) package delivery and five-day (a week) mail delivery. That's the way things are going."

McCaskill and others strongly oppose such changes and have pushed for postal reform legislation that would help the agency save money without slashing services. Other critics of the consolidation plan say the postal service's biggest problem is not declining revenues — revenues actually ticked up in the last quarter, due to mail price hikes and other steps — but the mandate to pre-fund retiree health benefits.

McCaskill responded sharply on Thursday to Donahoe's comments, saying the consolidations would put the agency in a "death spiral."

"Any CEO will tell you that voluntarily giving up your competitive advantage and lowering standards isn't a recipe for success," McCaskill said in a statement to the News-Leader. "The postal service's advantage is its unrivaled ability to reach into every American community — and if the postal service gives up that advantage before reform legislation is passed, I think we could see a death spiral for the agency."