The United States Postal Service has made final decisions on the fate of six local post offices following several community meetings that stretched over the course of two weeks in both Gloucester and Mathews counties.
Each post office in question will remain open, though with reduced operating hours. Meetings were held at the Wicomico Post Office in Gloucester and the Foster, Moon, Gwynn, Grimstead and Hudgins post offices in Mathews.
Customer survey responses, input from the community meetings, and the operational needs of the USPS were considered in reaching the implementation decisions, according to Michele Martel, district communications coordinator for the USPS.
Decisions were released last week for the Wicomico and Hudgins post offices, which will operate as six-hour offices.
Effective Jan. 26, 2013, Martel said the Foster Post Office will provide four hours of window service each weekday. The facility’s retail hours will be from 12:15-4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays. Post office box mail at Foster will be available daily for pick-up by 1:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11:30 a.m. Saturdays.
Effective Feb. 9, 2013, the Moon Post Office will provide four hours of window service each weekday. The facility retail hours will be from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays. Post office box mail will be available daily for pick-up by noon Monday through Saturday.
The Gwynn Post Office will provide four hours of window service each weekday, effective Feb. 23, 2013. The facility retail hours will be from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays. Post office box mail will be available for pick-up by 12:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Finally, Martel said the Grimstead Post Office will provide four hours of window service each weekday beginning Feb. 23, 2013. The facility retail hours will be from 8:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Saturdays. Post office box mail will be available for pick-up by 11:45 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
Martel said customers will have access to their mail receptacles 24 hours a day at each location and added that notices of each decision have been placed in each of the local post offices.
USPS representative Kimberly Allen said the changes being made at post offices across the country are part of a strategy to achieve savings and long-term financial stability for the postal service while providing reasonable solutions for the local community.