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VICTOR- The Ridgeway Mail Order Pharmacy is one of the largest employers in the Victor area with 30 employees.

The business ships out pharmacy supplies to customers all over the country and owner Jim Cloud has seen his mailing expenses nearly double in the last five years. And the price will jump again at the first of the year.

"We're going to see a degradation in quality of the service. We're also going to see increased prices to see increased prices during a tough economy," said Cloud, "during a time when less people have ins and more people are struggling. It's a deadly combination all the way around for the people of Montana,"

Many items that Ridgeway mails out are time sensitive, some need to be kept in cold temperatures. And with the postal service no longer guaranteeing next day delivering, Cloud will explore other, more costly options.

"With medication going all the way to Spokane and then coming all the way back into Montana," said Cloud, "Who knows that the potential problems are but certainly we're going to see delays. We're seeing prices increase which is making it more difficult all the time."

The USPS has proposed closing the Missoula processing center and that would mean that all mail would be trucked to Spokane to be sorted and then brought back to western Montana for delivery.