Following in the footsteps of other area post offices, the Ranier Post Office now finds its future in a gray area of uncertainty.

Some Ranier residents last month received a letter from the U.S. Postal Service explaining that under the organization’s review process called the POST Plan, the Ranier Post Office was among the offices evaluated under the plan’s criteria.

Ranier officials said that residents brought into the city limits through a 2010 annexation process did not receive the mailing.

A public meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Ranier Community Building will provide addition information about the POST Plan from Postal Service officials. The public will also get the opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns. 

According to Postal Service Spokesman Peter Nowacki, Postal Service officials in May announced that rather than closing about 3,700 Post Offices around the country, the organization instead began the process to review offices and modify retail window hours at about 13,000 locations to better match customer use and achieve savings.

He said once the entire POST Plan is implemented, total savings to the Postal Service are estimated to be $500 million dollars per year. 

“POST Plan will be phased in at these offices over the next two years and the public contact process began in September,” Nowacki told The Journal this week. “These offices will remain open with realigned hours unless the community expresses a strong preference for another option for service. Saturday hours, access to P.O. boxes and collections will not change.”

The lobby of the Ranier Post Office is now open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with window hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The post office is closed from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. each weekday. It is open Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.  

Along with the letter, some Ranier residents received a survey to allow Postal Service officials to evaluate the preference of the community when it comes to the post office. The options on the survey included four options, three of which involve discontinuance wording. 

A summary of each option is as follows:

• Keeping the office open, but with realigned weekday window service hours, based on the office’s work load. In the case of the Ranier office, hours would be changed from eight hours each weekday to four hours. Saturday hours would stay the same. 

• Have the Postal Service conduct a discontinuance study for the office and provide roadside mailbox delivery. Retail and delivery service would be provided through a rural carrier. Mail delivery points would be established or maintained and customers would be able to purchase most postal services through the carrier or other alternate access points.

• Have the Postal Service conduct a discontinuance study for the office and find a suitable alternative location operated by a contractor, usually at a local business. When businesses are found that meet the criteria, these establishments are contracted through the U.S. Postal Service and offer stamps and flat rate products with service hours generally more expansive than what the local Post Office may be able to offer. 

• Have the Postal Service conduct a discontinuance study for the office and relocate P.O. box service to a nearby Post Office. 

 According to City Clerk Kim Nuthak, those who were annexed into Ranier city limits in 2010 did not receive surveys by mail. She added that those residents still have an International Falls address.

“Mailing addresses do not always match the address of legal residence,” Nowacki said in response to why the annexed residents were missed in the mailings. “It is not unusual for a customer to live in one community yet receive their mail out of another.”

Nowacki continued that additional surveys are available at the Ranier Post Office at 3479 Duluth Street. Surveys must be completed and mailed back to the address provided on the survey by Monday. He said the results of the surveys will be shared during the public meeting.

Ranier Mayor Ed Oerichbauer encouraged everyone to fill out a survey and attend the Nov. 7 meeting. 

“This is probably the only opportunity for people to offer input about their post office,” he said. 

Oerichbauer said that once Postal Service representatives outline the POST Plan and explain to Ranier what is being proposed and why, the city council will prepare a response. 

Nowacki said the process for any decisions made about any particular post office will take about 90 days from the time the letters are sent until changes go into effect, with no changes occurring during holiday period of Dec. 1 to Jan. 12.

 “Since Ranier has a meeting date of Nov. 7, it is safe to say that no changes will be made prior to the new year,” Nowacki said.