Postal Service adds 88 locales in Minnesota for possible closing

Postal Service adds 88 locales in Minnesota for possible closing

• Article by: PAUL WALSH , Star Tribune
• Updated: July 26, 2011 - 1:56 PM

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Scores of U.S. Postal Service outlets across Minnesota are among the more than 3,600 being reviewed for closing, joining 28 others in the state that are already having their viability scrutinized.
The financially troubled Postal Service announced Tuesday that it is considering closing more than 1 in 10 of its retail outlets in offices, branches and stations. Many of those, however, may be replaced by "village" post offices in which the most common of postal services are offered in stores, libraries or government offices.
The Postal Service operates 31,871 retail outlets nationwide, down from 38,000 a decade ago. Business has declined sharply as first-class mail continues migrating to the Internet. Throw in a sluggish economy, and the result is an agency long drenched in red ink that lost $8 billion just last year.
The list released Tuesday includes 88 sites in Minnesota out of 882 total, said Postal Service spokesman Peter Nowacki.
While dots on the Minnesota map such as Alpha, Tenstrike and Vining are under the microscope, so are outlets in the biggest of cities. There are four in Minneapolis (Butler Quarter, Commerce, Dinkytown and Lowry Avenue), two in St. Paul (Riverview and Seeger Square Finance) and three in Duluth (Civic Center, Lakeside and West Duluth).
Coming under review doesn't necessarily mean an office will close. The Postal Service announced in January it was reviewing 1,400 offices for closing. So far, 280 have been closed, while 200 have survived review and will remain open.
The 28 in Minnesota placed under review earlier are: Dovray, Clements, Trail, Kenneth, Taopi, Silver Creek, Holland, Steen, Holmes City, Garden City, Puposky, Woodstock, Revere, Loman, Elrosa, Warsaw, Dalbo, Odin, Tenstrike, Hope, Peterson, Spring Lake, Bejou, Beltrami, Strandquist, Foxhome, Flom and Viking.
The additional 88 are: Alpha, Avoca, Beaver Creek, Bigelow, Conger, Darfur, Freeborn, Granada, Hardwick, Hayward, Iona, Magnolia, Millville, North Mankato, Ormsby, Pemberton, Peterson, Twin Lakes, Waltham, Kilkenny, Mendota, Riverview, St. Paul (2), Minneapolis (4), Alberta, Arco, Borup, Brooks, Burtrum, Clontarf, Comstock, Correll, Danvers, Donaldson, Dumont, Euclid, Georgetown, Hanley Falls, Hendrum, Hitterdal, Holloway, Kent, Lake Bronson, Lengby, Marietta, Naytahwaush, New Auburn, Nielsville, Norcross, Odessa, Perley, Ponemah, Ponsford, Porter, Shelly, Strathcona, Vining, Wanda, Wannaska, Waskish, Watson, Wolverton, Aldrich, Birchdale, Bock, Brimson, Brookston, Bruno, Calumet, Duluth (3), Flensburg, Fort Ripley, Grandy, Hines, Kerrick, Lake George, Makinen, McGrath, Mizpah, Squaw Lake, Taconite and Wright.