BUTTE — U.S. Sen. Jon Tester sent the U.S. Postmaster General a critical letter this week berating the Postal Service’s recent decision to move Butte’s mail processing operations from Great Falls to Billings.

Tester also urged the Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to postpone the move until it can better inform and get input from the Butte public.

The senator said processing Butte’s outgoing mail in Billings is inefficient because the cities are more than 200 miles apart. Tester suggested that the Missoula post office would have been a better choice and criticized the Postal Service for not planning the move efficiently.

“This lack of planning leaves customers with undoubtedly worse service,” Tester wrote in the two-page letter dated Wednesday.

The consolidation of the Butte mail processing in Billings was done Tuesday, according to Pete Nowaki, the spokesman for the postal region that includes Montana. The U.S. Postal Service made the decision in April to move Butte’s mail processing to Billings in an effort to save money and increase efficiency.

Read more: Billings Gazette