Only one post office in N.D., in Fargo, on possible closure list

Talk about it

The list of post offices being reviewed by U.S. Postal Service officials for possible closing includes only one in North Dakota. The recently released list of 3,200 postal facilities, about 10 percent of the nation’s total, lists only the University Station Post Office in Fargo as on the chopping block.

“We’re looking at consolidating stations and branches, where we have multiple facilities, to a single operation,” said Pete Nowacki, information specialist for the U.S. Postal Service. “It’s more of an urban thing than a rural thing.”

Nowacki said an unspecified number of the postal facilities on the list will be consolidated as part of an effort to save several billion dollars.

“This fiscal year we are facing a $7 billion deficit and that is after we’ve had $6 billion in cost savings,” Nowacki said.

Some of that cost savings will come in the rural areas but Nowacki said postal patrons may not even notice.

“We’ve done a number of things but the customers may not see a difference,” he said. “We’ve adjusted routes for efficiency and adjusted window hours in some locations.”

A supervisor at the Jamestown Post Office said route sizes have been increased to save costs.

But more drastic changes may be required to generate the cost savings necessary to keep the agency solvent.

“Major changes like dropping a day of delivery take an act of Congress and that is not in the works,” Nowacki said. “But it could save $3.5 billion per year.”

The post office faces declining mail volume and revenue, Nowacki said.

“The peak for mail volume was in 2006 when we delivered 213 billion pieces,” he said. “This year we’re delivering 175 billion. Each piece of mail represents revenue.”

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at (701) 952-8452 or by e-mail at knorman@jamestownsun.com

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