U.S. Postal Service employees and community members plan to rally in Grand Junction this afternoon (March 20) in response to the agency’s plan to reduce mail delivery service in rural areas.

The Postal Service intends to implement a Regional Transportation Optimization plan in May that will consolidate morning and afternoon mail dropoff and pickup activities into one route at post offices more than 50 miles from the nearest regional processing and distribution center. In Colorado, the only processing and distribution center is in Denver.

Currently, the Postal Service sends trucks out in the morning to take mail to local post offices, then sends trucks out again in the afternoon to pick up mail from the post offices. Under the new plan, the Postal Service would eliminate the afternoon pickup, leaving morning trucks to bring back the mail from the previous night. The change will delay mail delivery by at least one day.

Critics are concerned the change disproportionately affects rural areas.

The rally is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. outside the Postal Service’s Grand Junction processing plant at 602 Burkey St.