The U.S. Postal Service has no immediate plans to shutter the Proctor Post Office, Duluth's interim Postmaster Arby Humphrey said, though the facility is on a list of possible closures.
"We're just taking a very preliminary look and doing some fact-finding at retail operations across the district," Humphrey said.
"Our financial situation is no secret. We look at all of our operations ... for cost savings, just like the rest of the world is doing right now."
Closing the office is one of several cost-cutting measures being considered by the U.S. Postal Service, said John Schadl, communications director for U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, but that fate is little more than a consideration at this point. Schadl said the Postal Service is conducting a review of several postal operations to determine the best way to combat lost revenue, and that closing the Proctor office is on the list.
"Nowhere have we heard any [official] reports ... that Proctor would be the first to go," Schadl said, rebutting an article in last week's Proctor Journal that stated, without attribution, that the office would be the first of Duluth-area branches to close.
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"It is a possibility, but they are looking at a wide range of options," Schadl said.
Another option being considered is to end Saturday delivery. The review is expected to be complete sometime in June.
If Proctor does end up being recommended for closure, Oberstar's office can't do anything to stop it but it can join in the conversation, Schadl said.
"What we can do is we can talk to [the Postal Service] about why it is important if it's a question of the glass being half-empty or half-full," he said. "We can help them see it's half full."
If the Postal Service decides to take more steps toward closing the Proctor office, Humphrey said, it would send letters to residents and hold public meetings to seek opinions before making a decision.
On Monday, the Postal Service increased mailing rates, with the cost of a first-class letter going from 42 cents to 44.
