USPS to cut office hours of Clay Post Office

by MATT HUGHES

J-E News Editor

Clay City Clerk Julie Ryhe reported at last week’s council meeting that they were informed at a recent meeting that changes were on the way for the Clay Post Office.

“The Postal Service is finalizing its plan to realign retail window hours based on customer use in more than 13,000 post offices around the country,” said David Walton with The U.S. Postal Service (USPS). “The process to implement the plan (known as Post Plan) has been conducted in a multi-phased approach over two years, initially to be completed in September 2014, the timeline has now been extended until early January 2015.”

The USPS began cutting the window hours of thousands of post office across the country in the fall of 2012.  Slaughters was cut from an eight hour a day office to six hours a day, and Poole was cut all the way to just four hours. The USPS said at the time that it was a move expected to save $500 Million.

But apparently it wasn’t enough change to save other post offices from similar fates. Slaughters (pop. 238) and Poole (an unicoprorated city) are both quite a bit smaller than the city of Clay (pop. 1,179), so the unexpected reduction of hours came as a surprise to many residents.

USPS recently sent a survey out to 1,155 residents who are served by the Clay post office, only 278 of which were returned. But according to Ryhe, they were told at the meeting that the changes were already ‘set in stone.’

“There is nothing we can do to get the hours changed,” Rhye said.

Beginning at some point between September 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015, the post office hours will be changing. On weekdays the office will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with an extended lunch break from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday hours will be 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

“Total Saturday window services hours will not be reduced and access to delivery receptacles will not change as a result of the POST Plan realignment of weekday window services hours,” the USPS said in a report handed out at the meeting.

USPS employees have told other cities in the past that much of the changes were based on the ‘window’ sales of stamps. Although the post offices gets the money from postal meter sales, the individual post office doesn’t get credit for those sales. The only way the local offices gets credit is if the stamps are purchased at the window.

Another change to hit the Clay Post Office is that the sitting post master will be retiring, but Walton said that he will be replaced, despite rumors to the contrary.