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Politics & Government

UPDATE: Downtown Northfield Post Office to Close

There is a 60-day comment period for possible appeal.

Northfield is 60 days away from losing part of its history.

United States Postal Service representatives told the Northfield City Council and a standing-room only audience on Tuesday night that the downtown post office will close.

Residents have a 60-day comment period to have their voices heard about the consolidation, which would move the daily business from the downtown office to the Hwy. 3 South carrier annex.

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The USPS estimates it will take $250,000-350,000 to expand the annex to meet the needs of Northfield. It's estimated $750,000 will be saved over a 10-year period by making the move.

In response to the near-unanimous disapproval of moving the office to the carrier annex at 2101 Cannon Road, councilors, in similar agreement, directed city staff to invite Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar and Rep. John Kline to a meeting with councilors and residents to advocate for a change, which postal service staff said would be better than trying to send messages to Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe.

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Citing a 12-percent decline in business in the last three years—and a 20-percent decline nationwide—Garry Mattox of the USPS said there wasn't much left to do, as it's a matter of finances.

Less people are using the service, he said, due to increased use of email and postal services based online.

"These pressures have created a situation we have never faced before," Maddox said.

Many residents responded that the downtown office, built in 1936, is an anchor of the city’s downtown core and a symbol of its relative independence from car travel.

“It doesn’t fit in with our culture,” said Ross Currier, director of the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation, on the prospect of downtown area residents having to drive across town to its second post office. “That’s not the way we do it in Northfield. We want to walk there.”

Representatives from the Postal Service expressed sympathy for frustrated residents, but said the problem was a systemic one of which eventually no community will be immune.

“We’re as sad to be in this position as you are to hear the news,” said USPS spokesman Peter Nowacki, saying the declining agency has “been a way of life” for its employees.

But the emotional common ground ceded to the cold finances, with Nowacki, Mattox and three other USPS staff—including Northfield Postmaster Dennis O’Connell—presenting the closure of the downtown site as inevitable.

Nowacki said the USPS peaked in 2006 with 213 billion pieces of mail. Last year, it was down to 170 billion pieces, saying it’s likely to shrink year after year.  He said the USPS looked at facilities everywhere, and in situations where there were multiple buildings, saw if they could continue to meet customers’ needs with fewer locations. 

The USPS just completed a similar move in Fergus Falls, Nowacki said, where the downtown office was moved to an annex. By the end of next week, the same will happen in Aberdeen, SD, and there is a similar project under way in Yankton, SD.

Northfield’s downtown location is one of 16,000 offices considered for closure or consolidation out of about 32,000 post offices throughout the country. Nearly 500 branches closed last year, according to the USPS.


Changing business

Many residents, including Currier, said the move to the south end of Northfield would only hurt postal business further.

Two residents at a branch-off meeting from the city council said they would change their habits, one saying she would switch $4,000 of yearly postage costs to another business.

Philip Spensley said he may consider scrapping proposed expansion of his business into the downtown area.

“If you folks are leaving, I’m not coming downtown,” he said.

The informal discussion held on the second floor of City Hall, with USPS staff at the head of a room filled with residents both standing and sitting around tables arranged in a square, turned to alternatives.

Former Northfield Postmaster Mel Miller said a self-checkout-style unit, which requires no staff while still selling stamps and weighing packages, could be put in the current operation’s place, allowing a remnant of the current downtown presence.

Miller added, to agreement from staffers present, that its budget problems would be less severe if a 2006 law requiring the USPS to prefund pension costs had not gone into effect.

Public entities—federal, state and local government—will get first dibs at the building once the 60-day period expires. If no entity shows interest, the building will enter the open market.

While most attendees of Tuesday's meeting were older, several younger residents showed up, including St. Olaf junior Claire Shannon, who said the post office is part of the community that makes it a draw to students.

"The character of the town draws in people who are here for [only] four years," she said. "I can't imagine not having that history."

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Original story

Northfield is 60 days away from losing part of its history.

United States Postal Service representatives told the Northfield City Council and a standing-room only audience on Tuesday night that the downtown post office will close.

Residents have a 60-day comment period to have their voices heard about the consolidation, which would move the daily business from the downtown office to the Hwy. 3 South carrier annex.

Citing a 12-percent decline in business in the last three years—and a 20-percent decline nationwide—Garry Mattox of the USPS said there wasn't much left to do, as it's a matter of finances.

Less people are using the service, he said, due to increased use of email and postal services based online.

"These pressures have created a situation we have never faced before," Maddox said.

The USPS estimates it will take $250,000-350,000 to expand the annex to meet the needs of Northfield.

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