Talk about consolidating post offices

across the U.S. has newspaper companies looking at potential

impacts to deliveries and billing.

The consolidation idea arose as the

U.S. Postal Service deals with losses adding up to billions of

dollars a year and a line of credit with the U.S. Treasury that is

tapped out at $15 billion.

Locally, closing processing centers in

Kalispell and Missoula and moving them to Spokane, Wash., would end

overnight delivery of local first-class mail for Western

Montana.

Impacts to weekly newspapers in the

Flathead Valley, however, may not be serious. The Whitefish Pilot,

for example, is delivered by the newspaper company’s personnel to

the post office in Whitefish, where it is inserted in post office

boxes or delivered to local addresses.

Newspapers heading out of the county,

however, need to go to the Kalispell post office. If the Kalispell

processing center is moved to Spokane, then newspapers heading out

of the county could be delayed about one day.

The same scenario would apply to the

Hungry Horse News and the Bigfork Eagle, which have post offices in

their home towns.

The U.S. Postal Service, facing

political pressure in Washington, D.C., has agreed to delay any

post office closures until mid-May.