The Daily Inter Lake

The U.S. Postal Service is preparing to consolidate Kalispell’s mail sorting operations with a sorting center in Missoula.

Announced in September, the move will happen by March 1.

The move is projected to save the Postal Service $580,000 a year. With declining mail volumes, it is one small part of a larger plan to close about half of its processing centers nationwide. Kalispell’s mail sorting center is at the main post office on Meridian Road. Its closure will not affect retail services offered at the facility or overnight delivery of local first-class mail, the Postal Service has said.

The consolidation means eight fewer sorting jobs in Kalispell and Missoula, but there will be no layoffs for career employees because of retirements and other moves, Postal Service spokesman Pete Nowacki said.

The additional space left behind in the Meridian Road post office because of the removal of the mail sorting equipment should not be an issue.

“Because of population growth in the Flathead Valley in the ’90s and up until the recession hit, the mail processing facility was getting short on space, so the building should serve the community’s needs for many years to come,” Nowacki wrote in an email. “So while there is a nationwide study of our facilities to determine how we can best utilize space and possibly sell some buildings, Kalispell should remain a good fit.”