Minneapolis postal customers will be able to comment this week about the potential closures of two city post offices.

It's a public comment process being replicated across the state and the country as the U.S. Postal Service grapples with declining first-class mail and a sluggish economy.

The meeting for Butler Quarter Finance Station (Butler Square) is Wednesday and the meeting for the Commerce Finance Station is Thursday, according to Postal Service spokesman Peter Nowacki. Both meetings are at 6 p.m. and will be held in Room 125 of the Minneapolis Main Post Office at 100 S. 1st St., Nowacki said.

After losing $8 billion last year, the Postal Service announced in January that it was reviewing 1,400 offices nationwide for possible closure. In July, the agency added more than 3,600 additional offices, branches and stations including four stations in Minneapolis.

"No decision will be made or announced at either meeting," Nowacki said, in an email.

The meetings are part of a 60-day public comment period that runs until Jan. 10. At that time, the results of a study and any public comment documents will be submitted to postal headquarters for a final determination of whether both or either station will close, Nowacki said. Even if they were to close, they would remain open until at least March, Nowacki said.

The post office in Danvers, Minn., was also on the list for possible closure. Photo by Glen Stubbe

The Dinkytown post office and the Lowry Avenue post office were also suggested for potential closure earlier this year. The public meeting for the Dinkytown post office hasn't been announced yet, Nowacki said. The Lowry post office is no longer under scrutiny because the Postal Service determined that it did not have adequate space available at other facilities to move the carrier and PO Box operations from Lowry, Nowacki said.