Posted 1/3/2017
Updates about the Nokomis East Post Office from Council Member Andrew Johnson (Ward 12):
For over a year I’ve been working with neighbors, the Postmaster General, and NENA to address various quality of life issues stemming from the Nokomis East Post Office. These include property damage to nearby homes from delivery trucks and the unwanted use of private driveways to make deliveries feasible.
These issues have largely stemmed from the change in operations of the USPS as their business model has shifted due to online deliveries, especially from Amazon; this means large third-party delivery trucks coming in at 2am and 3am and being unable to make the same turning movements in this relatively tight location as the historically smaller USPS trucks. After careful work to understand and address these concerns, it became obvious that the location of the Post Office was not suited to today’s operational needs, putting unnecessary burden and hardship on neighbors that went beyond what one would reasonably expect from a nearby business. Therefore I formally requested USPS move the operational component of the Post Office to the airport while maintaining the retail component at the existing location so that our neighborhood would not lose the convenience of service. I also offered to work with the Postmaster General to find a more appropriate location for their long-term operational needs, such as along Highway 55 in an industrial zoned area. After carefully considering this request, USPS agreed with pursuing these changes. A date for implementation is not certain yet, but I would expect it to happen sometime this spring.
This is a win-win-win: alleviating the issues for neighbors, maintaining the convenience of retail postal service for the neighborhood while decreasing traffic and parking congestion, and improving operational efficiencies for the postal service. I am appreciative of the Postmaster General for his responsiveness to these concerns, to neighbors who have shown great patience and a willingness to work constructively towards a solution, and to NENA for helping facilitate discussions and advocate for residents. This news was not publicly shared sooner at the request of USPS so that they could inform the appropriate parties. I expect more formal information will be coming from them ahead of implementation. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions: 612-673-2212 and Andrew.Johnson@minneapolismn.gov
