A mobile post office will open this week in the Kmart parking lot off Lake Street in south Minneapolis to help fill the service gap left by two postal facilities destroyed in the unrest following the death of George Floyd.
Mobile post office to debut on Lake Street after blazes at two Minneapolis stations
It will park at Kmart lot and serve those whose 2 facilities were ruined.
June 18, 2020 at 2:34AM
The mobile office at 10 W. Lake St. will be open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday, though it may return at a future date, according to U.S. Postal Service officials.
Customers may buy stamps and money orders and send packages at the mobile unit, using cash, checks and credit or debit cards. Post office box services and package pickups won't be available.
During the riots and looting that followed Floyd's death on May 25, the Minnehaha and Lake Street post offices were reduced to burned-out husks.
Postal officials say they are exploring options to re-establish permanent service for the neighborhoods along the Lake Street corridor. In a news release Wednesday, officials said the Postal Service "is already moving forward to provide customers with a local facility to call their own."
It was unclear whether both facilities will be replaced. The Lake Street site was owned by the Postal Service, while the Minnehaha facility was leased.
Customers in the 55406 ZIP code area who used the Minnehaha facility were referred to the main post office in downtown Minneapolis. Those who used the Lake Street post office from ZIP codes 55408 and 55409 are temporarily using a postal facility in Loring Park.
Special windows have been set up at the downtown facility for post office box customers and to retrieve mail held for damaged businesses or residences. About 1,300 customers had post office boxes in the destroyed facilities, officials said. Identification will be required for mail pickups.
Postal officials also said that street mailboxes removed from Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods as a precautionary measure in recent weeks will be restored.
"They will be back in service when it is deemed safe to do so, and when we are able to collect the mail within them without incident," officials said.
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