By The U.S. Postal Service will keep local mail processing operations at the Dakota Central facility in Huron.
That’s after the USPS announced in February 2024 that the Huron facility would be downsized and all local mail processing would be shifted to Fargo, N.D. Opponents of the plan claimed that would have resulted in slower delivery times in many parts of eastern South Dakota, including Aberdeen and Watertown.
Rounds
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., led the push to keep local processing in Huron since the initial decision to downsize it was announced.
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“I am pleased to see that leaders at the USPS have reconsidered their decision to move local processing operations away from the Dakota Central facility in Huron,” Rounds said in a news release. “South Dakotans rely on USPS’s rural services to receive their mail. Transferring local processing operations to Fargo would have resulted in a slower delivery time for packages and letters.
The USPS has plans to make $3 million in improvements to the Huron postal facility to streamline mail processing in South Dakota.
Rounds has been a leader in protecting rural USPS services. In April 2024, he sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy urging the USPS to avoid downsizing or significantly reorganizing mail processing operations in the state.
Earlier this year, Rounds reintroduced the Postal Processing Protection Act that would require the USPS to consider consequences for rural areas during the closure or downsizing review process in order to protect rural mail processing facilities.