Loman post office to remain open, others still up for review

“Loman is no longer under consideration for closing and will remain open,” Nowacki said. “That is all the information I have at this time.”

Area residents attended meetings and submitted comment forms opposing closure of the Loman office.

Indus School secretary Karen Anderson was noticeably excited when she received the news.

“I think it restores my faith in mankind,” she said.

Anderson said she relies on the Loman Post Office for the school’s mailings and noted that she spent a lot of time wondering what she would do if the facility would close.

Nowacki continued that while the Loman Post Office’s fate is secure, the future of the facilities in Birchdale and Mizpah are still undecided. He said the public comment period on the Birchdale Post Office ended Monday and a final determination on the facility from postal headquarters is expected to be made after Jan. 1.

“If the office closes, customers will be served by carrier out of Baudette, with projected savings of $326,431 over a 10-year period,” Nowacki said.

 The public comment period for the Mizpah Post Office ends Thursday and it, too, will go to headquarters for final determination, Nowacki added. If closed, carrier service would generate from the Northome Post Office with projected 10-year savings of $566,943.

Proposed legislation

U.S. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar Monday urged Senate leaders to delay closing or consolidating post offices for six months to give Congress more time to come up with its own reforms.

In a recent letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Franken and Klobuchar said both chambers of Congress are moving forward with reform legislation to address the financial struggles of the U.S. Postal Service.

The postal service posted a $5.1 billion loss during the 2011 fiscal year, which ended in September, according to the senators. The agency’s cost-saving plan would result in a $20 billion cut to operating costs by 2015 and reduce the postal service work force by more than 100,000.

“As the U.S. Postal Service takes steps to turn its financial situation around, it is important that it take into consideration the needs of rural communities,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “I believe we need to enact reforms to help the postal service adjust to a digital world and recognize the concerns of rural communities.”

"Congress first needs to get the U.S. Postal Service’s financial house in order and make needed reasonable reforms that preserve jobs,” Franken added. “As we do that, I want USPS officials to listen to — and work with — communities in Minnesota and across the country so that residents and businesses who rely on the postal service will not be unduly harmed. This is especially important in rural communities, where the effects of closing a post office are more dramatic.”

In Minnesota, 117 post offices and 252 mail processing facilities, including one in Bemidji, are scheduled to close.

“We will be moving mail processing operations out of Bemidji and to St. Cloud by July of next year,” Nowacki said. “However, in September, we began studying possibly closing the processing operations in St. Cloud. Should it be shut down there, operations would move to Minneapolis.”

Nowacki said that for now, once the Bemidji processing facility closes, mail sent from International Falls will go to St. Cloud to be sorted and residents won’t see a change in mail delivery.

However, should operations eventually move to Minneapolis, Nowacki said delivery standards for first class mail would change.

“If, for example, someone sent a letter from International Falls to someone in Bemidji, it gets there the next day,” Nowacki said of operations being moved to St. Cloud. “If shifting does occur and processing operations move to Minneapolis that hypothetical letter would get to Bemidji in two days.”

Delivery standards for other classes of mail would not be impacted, he added.

Klobuchar and Franken urged a six month moratorium on these closures and consolidations so that Congress can move forward with legislation that would significantly reform the postal service and address its financial struggles.

Nowacki said he was aware that something is being introduced in the Senate, however, it isn’t changing the way the postal service is running its studies.

“No legislation has been passed,” he said. “If something does come about, we’ll have to see what happens. We still have more than 3,600 post offices under review. We won’t close any of them until after the first of the year.”