Published: July 06, 2009 11:41 pm      

Post offices chopping hours

Recession continues its toll on local mail service

CUMBERLAND — The U.S. Postal Service is chopping hours at two Allegany County branches, the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures that some fear could cause hardships, especially for the elderly.

Starting Aug. 1, branches in Cresaptown and on Virginia Avenue in Cumberland will close at noon instead of 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to signs posted at each branch Monday morning.

“They’re doing it all across the U.S.,” said Phil Jones, president of Local 513 Clerks Union, who hadn’t been officially notified of the change, but knew it was imminent.

“They say they’re trying to save money, but I think they’re going about it in the wrong way. They’ve been trying to cut service, cut service, cut service, cut service. They should change the name to just ‘Postal’ and drop the ‘Service.’”

Hard hit by the national recession and rising gas prices, the Postal Service is struggling to adapt to a dramatic shift toward electronic messaging and away from ‘snail mail.’ In fiscal 2008, it reported a net loss of $2.8 billion, according to the annual report, and saw volume decline by 9.5 billion pieces of mail, or 4.5 percent of total volume.

To try to make ends meet, the Postal Service cut costs by more than $2 billion in 2008, reducing work hours and shrinking staff by more than 20,000 positions.

Locally, it closed Luke’s post office in April, saying business had trickled to almost nothing. In March, it shortened hours at Cumberland’s main branch on Park Street by an hour, closing at 5 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.

A Postal Service spokesperson wasn’t available to comment Monday afternoon. Announcing the closure of the Luke Post Office in April, spokeswoman Freda Sauter said that times are not easy for the Postal Service.

“It’s not business as usual anymore,” Sauter told the Times-News. “We must continue to identify and implement changes that help us better serve our customers and keep our prices affordable.”

News of next month’s changes at Cresaptown and Virginia Avenue came as a blow to some customers and staff.

“They’re revitalizing Virginia Avenue in particular, that’s what I don’t understand,” said Bill Sites, who has worked for 14 years as clerk in charge of the Virginia Avenue branch. On Monday, construction crews worked on the new HRDC building, expected to open in November. Down the street, construction continued on a new Rite Aid.

“Basically, most of the clientele are older folks who walk in,” Sites said. “You have to have retail outlets to bring in business. You keep getting rid of retail outlets, how you going to draw your customers in? Send them to UPS?”

Jones, president of the 81-member local clerks union, said he hasn’t been given details about how staffing will be affected.

Rosalie Parks visits the Virginia Avenue branch at least once a day — usually in the afternoon — to check her post office box. She lives on nearby Louisiana Avenue.

“Let’s put it this way, if we have to run down to Park Street, there’s no parking down there, so everybody will be in the middle of the street,” said King, a senior citizen, who’s prepared to take drastic measures, if necessary, to get her mail where it needs to go.

“You know, everybody’s going to a computer,” said Parks. “I don’t have one. I’m too old to learn how to do one. But if worse comes to worse, that’s what I’ll do.”

Contact Kristin Harty at kharty@times-news.com.