Postal Center International is shutting down its Franklin, Massachusetts warehouse and eliminating all 112 jobs there, part of a sudden nationwide contraction that began last week. The company filed a Massachusetts Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the state on August 13, and layoffs at the 29 Hayward Street facility began that same day, with the closure expected to be complete by September 30.
The Franklin site served as Postal Center International's headquarters for Northeast operations, according to MassLive. The positions being eliminated span the warehouse's workforce, including drivers, dispatch workers, machine technicians, and managers. The company, which is based in Weston, Florida, did not respond to MassLive's request for comment, and the WARN notice itself did not specify what prompted the closure.
A Short Life for the Franklin Hub
The Franklin facility had only been open a little over three years. Postal Center International signed a multi-year lease in late 2022 and opened the 29 Hayward Street site on May 11, 2023, branding it the company's New England Presort Mail Facility, according to the Franklin Observer. The opening came with public fanfare, including a $25,000 donation from the company's PCI Powerhouse Fund to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and partnerships with local community groups, the outlet reported.
That high-profile debut stands in sharp contrast to the abrupt exit now underway. Postal Center International began as a courier service in 1984 and grew over four decades into a company with more than $500 million in annual revenue in 2023 under President and CEO Ismael Diaz, per company background cited in industry reporting. The Franklin plant's closure marks an unusually fast reversal for a site the company had positioned as a key regional hub just three years earlier.
Part of a Multi-State Wind-Down
The Franklin cuts are not an isolated decision. Postal Center International is simultaneously eliminating roughly 457 positions across three states, including 181 employees at its Weston headquarters and 164 in San Antonio, Texas, according to FreightWaves. The San Antonio facility, a 100,000-square-foot operation opened in 2021, is also winding down, with all three states' layoffs scheduled to conclude by September 30, according to the San Antonio Report.
In its workforce filings, the company cited “unforeseeable business circumstances” to invoke a WARN Act exemption that allows employers to give shorter notice than the standard 60 days when sudden market or client changes occur. The San Antonio Report noted the layoffs there hit a similarly broad range of roles, from delivery drivers and dispatchers to barcode sweepers and plant supervisors.
Franklin's Mounting Industrial Losses
The Postal Center International closure adds to a string of industrial shutdowns that have hit Franklin's commercial corridor in 2026. Panera Bread closed its dough production facility in the town in March, affecting 92 workers, while Thermo Fisher Scientific has been phasing out its manufacturing plant at 27 Forge Parkway, affecting up to 80 employees, according to reporting cited by WCVB. Together with the 112 jobs now disappearing from Hayward Street, Franklin has lost several major commercial employers within the span of months.
For displaced workers, state resources are available. Massachusetts law directs the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to coordinate MassHire Rapid Response teams whenever a WARN notice affects 50 or more employees, connecting laid-off workers with job placement and retraining services. Those programs are expected to activate for the Franklin employees as the facility winds down over the coming weeks.
The pressures facing Postal Center International reflect a broader freight and logistics slowdown. More than 7,000 jobs were eliminated nationwide in August 2026 across freight, logistics, distribution, and fulfillment companies, including major cuts at FedEx, Ryder, and CJ Logistics, according to FreightWaves. For now, the exact reason behind Postal Center International's sudden retreat from Franklin, San Antonio, and its own Florida headquarters remains unexplained in the company's own filings.
