The South International Falls Post Office Station is still under review for consolidation with the city’s main branch.
Pete Nowacki, spokesperson for the post service’s northland district, told The Daily Journal Thursday that the South Falls office is the only remaining office still under consideration for closure in Minnesota. Several other branches in the state had been on the consideration list this summer, but were spared this week.
Any decision regarding the South International Falls location would not affect the main branch downtown, which Nowacki notes is not, and has not been, under consideration for closure.
“We’re still investigating what to do with South International Falls,” he said.
He said that any decision would likely not come for about six months.
Nowacki said that 413 post office locations nation-wide are being considered for closure. He said that priority is placed on higher-revenue offices — or those which see more business and more transactions. Proximity to another post office branch is also key, he added.
The closure of post offices is one of several cost-cutting moves by the United States Postal Service, according to a USPS news release Wednesday.
Nationwide, USPS has: cut work hours for employees, adjusted and eliminated carrier routes, instituted a hiring and salary freeze, and adjusted their business practices such as changing their hours of operation and mail processing.
Nowacki said that moving to a five-day-a-week schedule is yet to be determined. He said that Congress would have to approve any such change, and there is currently nothing on the congressional books about such a move.
“We’re always looking at all parts of our operation,” he said, adding that a “severe downturn” of 14 percent in mail volume has led to the cost-cutting maneuvers.
He pointed to the “electronic diversion” of Internet communications and the decrease in the volume of letter and advertising mail due to the recession as culprits in the service’s financial problems.
According to the USPS Web site, located at www.usps.com, the South Falls branch on 18th Street is open from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
