MANKATO — There would be 18 fewer U.S. Postal Service jobs in Mankato and the Postal Service would save nearly $1 million a year, but customer service would be largely unaffected under a plan to shift some operations from Mankato to Minneapolis.

Postal Service officials provided those details at a hearing in Mankato Wednesday night on the Area Mail Processing study currently under way.

The study is one of 167 nationwide in the last five years as the Postal Service deals with declining demand for its services. A final decision hasn’t been made regarding the Mankato facility, and written comments are being accepted until Sept. 8.

But in all but one of 74 studies that reached the decision-making stage elsewhere, it was decided that the savings justified the consolidation.

If the Mankato study results in consolidation with the Minneapolis facility 84 miles away, it would only involve shifting outgoing mail processing there — the mail being sent from postal customers throughout the southwestern corner of Minnesota to places elsewhere in the state or nation.

The facility on Summit Avenue on Mankato’s north side would continue to process incoming mail from processing centers around the country for delivery to customers in southwestern Minnesota.

“So there will continue to be quite a bit of processing at that facility at this time,” said Arby Humphrey, the Duluth postmaster and the Postal Service’s team leader for the Mankato study.

In fact, of the approximately 1.4 million pieces of mail processed at the facility each day, less than 200,000 will be shifted to the Minneapolis facility under the plan, said Larry Bock, a senior manager of post office operations for the USPS Northland District.

Bock said he couldn’t comment on whether a follow-up study was possible on consolidating the incoming mail in Minneapolis as well.

Eliminating only outgoing mail processing will mean just 18 of the 102 jobs at the Mankato facility will disappear if the plan is implemented.

The Postal Service intends to offer all affected workers the opportunity to fill other job vacancies locally or transfer to Minneapolis, where the study indicates six jobs will be added. For instance, mail processing workers in Mankato might be able to take a mail carrier job that opens up through a retirement, Bock said.

While the hearing was focused on receiving input from the community, a few workers asked questions and sought more detail.

“We’re concerned about the loss of jobs,” said Paul Rodgers, president of the local postal workers union. “We’re concerned about service to the community. That’s what we’re working hard to maintain.”

Humphrey said the study shows that service won’t be impacted for the vast majority of customers. Delivery times will improve for mail moving from Mankato to St. Paul and St. Cloud and decline for mail moving from Mankato to Sioux City, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, S.D.

Several questions came from people who send large quantities of mail, including magazines and newspapers, and they were assured that they would notice no difference in the service they receive.

But the changes will save an estimated $965,000 a year, Humphrey said. And with mail volumes dropping substantially, the Postal Service needs to reduce expenses.

First-class mail volume nationwide has dropped from 208 billion pieces in 2000 to 171 billion last year, largely because of the rise of e-mail, electronic bill-paying and the economic downturn.

Some audience members — including Gustavus Adolphus College Mail Services Director Naomi Quiram — called for congressional action to assist the Postal Service, such as ending the requirement that employee retirement benefits be pre-funded. Cuts may be necessary, but not of the magnitude being contemplated, Quiram said.

“You can’t tell us it’s good for the U.S. economy, it’s good for the USPS to lay off an additional 200,000 people,” she said.

And Quiram said she’s worried about the future of mail delivery, saying that nothing can truly replace written correspondence — or the care packages from home that mean so much to college students.

“We always talk about ‘love in a box,’” she said.