Why does Wilmington's mail still go through Fayetteville?

[gddrew]

At least since the 1970s, all mail in the region with a 284 prefix goes to Fayetteville for processing. Though they have recently changed the postmark from "Fayetteville, NC 283" to "Coastal Carolina Area NC 283", it still is Fayetteville. At one time there was talk that the Postal Service was going to build a processing and distribution facility in northern New Hanover county that would process all the mail for the 284 prefix and would bear a Wilmington postmark. What happened? Mail with a 285 prefix gets processed in Kinston, and mail with a 278 prefix gets processed in Rocky Mount. So what's wrong that Wilmington that its mail has to go to Fayetteville for sorting and distribution??