TUPELO – The U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday it will move Tupelo’s outgoing mail-processing operations to Memphis, despite stiff opposition from local postal employees, as well as city, regional and state officials.

The move will save the USPS $181,000 annually and eliminate six positions.

It’s among dozens of mail-processing consolidations nationwide as the USPS seeks to reduce operating costs amid declining patronage.

“We’re doing what any other business would do, which is to take a look at things and see where we can reap some savings,” USPS spokeswoman Beth Barnett told the Daily Journal.

The consolidation will take place by Oct. 1; Tupelo workers were notified Wednesday. Those whose positions are effected will be reassigned to other areas, the USPS said.

Mail is processed in Tupelo at the Thomas Street branch, which includes sorting, categorizing, stamping and shipping letters and packages originating from communities whose area codes begin with 388.

As part of the plan, those functions would occur in Memphis. And mail sent from this area would trade its Tupelo postmark for one bearing the Memphis name. Customers who bring mail to the local post office customer service desk and request a Tupelo postmark can continue to get it, however.

“As is the case with the Postal Service as a whole, the Tupelo office has been experiencing a decline in mail volume, and the Memphis Mail Processing & Distribution Center has underutilized capacity,” said Mississippi District Manager Elizabeth Johnson.

“This consolidation will contribute toward the Postal Service’s goal of increasing efficiency and improving productivity. Optimizing our processing network like this will help the Postal Service remain viable to provide mail service for all Americans.”

The USPS first announced Tupelo’s potential consolidation in October when it launched an internal study of its anticipated cost savings. At a packed public hearing in January at the Link Centre, many people spoke out against the plan. They warned of delayed mail delivery, the loss of Tupelo’s postmark and the general decline of postal service.

They had the support of several elected officials. Among those who publicly opposed the consolidation were Tupelo Mayor Jack Reed Jr. and the City Council, the Lee County Board of Supervisors, both Mississippi senators and U.S. Rep. Travis Childers.

A decision was supposed to have been announced 60-90 days after the public-comment period ended in late January, but it didn’t come until this week. Barnett said the earlier time line simply was an estimate and that studies of some cities require more time. She didn’t say what factors led to the delay of Tupelo’s announcement, nor did she point to any one reason why its consolidation was approved.

Others, like one proposed earlier for Hattiesburg, have been denied.

In addition to Tupelo’s extra mail volume – some 50,000 pieces per day, by Barnett’s estimate – Memphis also will handle mail from Jackson, Tenn. The USPS had approved consolidating that city’s outgoing mail processing earlier this summer. It went into effect July 1.

Barnett said Memphis will have no trouble taking the additional mail and that none of the communities should notice any difference in service.

Contact Emily Le Coz at (662) 678-1588 or emily.lecoz@djournal.com.