Postal Service changes mind on closing Dalton location

CINCINNATI - The president of the Cincinnati Postal Workers Union announced Wednesday the Cincinnati Mail Processing Center in Queensgate will not close.

Michael Funk was called into a meeting late Wednesday afternoon with the post master. He and other union members were told the center would stay open.

Funk says it comes after a mail processing center feasibility study found it would be too costly for the Postal Service to shut down the center.

"If you look at the area it serves, more than 2.2 million people, right here in the heart. We've got all these large businesses in the community. They've heard our message loud and clear. They looked at it and I believe they came to a good business decision," said Funk.

Walt Luthy, who has worked at Dalton Street processing center for 17 years, says he's thankful for the decision. "I'm ecstatic actually. Relieved. Couldn't be happier right now. Christmas in February," he said.

Luthy says his family's future would have changed drastically if the center had closed and his job was eliminated.

"We would have had to go where ever they sent us, throughout the country. It could have been anywhere in the country. The prospects of uprooting the family weren't good for us actually. I wasn't looking forward to it," said Luthy.

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory also celebrated the decision with workers leaving the mail processing center for the night.

"The economic impact of 2,000 jobs at the salaries that are paid here, would have been devastating to our economy. It would have been a real blow. 2,000 jobs all at once. That's a lot of spending that happens locally, " said Mallory.

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