Downtown post office to start closing at 2pm for now -- or, maybe longer?

Durham's central post office is going down for a daily siesta each afternoon starting July 20.

It's an early closing plan that's supposed to last only until September 6 -- though we've heard rumblings that it may end up being a bit more indefinite than that.

For unspecified reasons, the downtown post office will be closing at 2pm daily effective next Monday.

Which means counter service for mailing letters, parcels, packages and the like will only be available for about 5 1/2 hours per day downtown.

Although officially these are deemed only "special summer hours," BCR's heard some rumblings that they might be continued longer than that. No word as to whether this is due to the US Postal Service's overall travails; the we-deliver-for-you people have lost a staggering $2.3 billion halfway through this fiscal year, versus just a $35 million loss through the first two quarters last year.

USPS's has seen what a press release called "an unprecedented decline in mail volume" -- 15% year-over-year. (One can suppose that's what happens when the consumer credit market dries up?) The USPS has further noted a goal of decreasing total work hours by 100 million this year.

From a local Durham perspective, the message is clear: if you're heading downtown to grab a leisurely lunch and go to the post office, make sure you don't perform those tasks in that order.

Comments

[hovercraft]

I always thought the final proof of downtown's resurgence would be if the main P.O. reopened for Saturday morning hours. Guess that's really a pipe dream now.

[Scandi]

Okay, so it's time to write some letters, everybody! If we keep local demand for post office services high--higher than in other places--maybe we can get those hours back.

Naive? Maybe. But I really like the clerks at the downtown P.O. And either way, it can't hurt to send a friend a postcard....or a coconut or a rubber duck or any of those other great things they will let you stick a stamp on and mail.

[SteveG]

This is disappointing. I go to this P.O. several times a month to drop off packages. It's generally never crowded (and there in lies the problem), though finding street parking can be difficult.
The other P.O. I go to on Roxboro in almost always crowded. I guess that I'll be better off planning my package drops for the AM hours.

[TC]

I just moved here and went to mail a package at 1130 am on a Saturday morning. I have lived in suburban Maine, suburb/rural NH, Boston, and Rochester, NY. This is the first place I have lived that didn't have Saturday post office hours until at least noon.

Then again, I guess tax dollars shouldn't go to pay workers to sit around if the post office isn't being used.

[Gordon Mantler]

It's not just the downtown post office -- the one on Kangaroo Court has signs posted with the same hours, effective July 20.

[Phil]

Everywhere I look, I see reduced hours or reduced services. Rainbow Chinese (at Brightleaf) dumped its buffet after traffic dwindled. They now offer $3.99 lunch specials. THREE. Ninety-Nine.

The Brodie Fitness Center at Duke has a sign that says "Closed until further notice."

No shock about the USPS. But for those who can make it downtown before noon, I encourage you to use the cute old revolving door that faces (?) east onto Rigsbee. The doors are small, wooden, and old -- and yet they rotate smoothly and quietly, without a heavy push. Quite nice.

[erin]

@Phil, Brodie is closed because of the swine flu outbreak with Duke's summer camps on Easst, not because of budget (at least as far as I know.)

[Samantha E.]

Brodie reopened on July 9: http://news.duke.edu/2009/07/brodie_pool.html

[Samantha E.]

Oops - crucial word left out. Brodie pool has reopened, not the full facility.

[Scott Jennings]

They are officially Not Kidding about the 2pm closing. I got there at 2:05pm, just now, needing to overnight something, and I was very unapologetically not helped, despite having three staff members present, and told to go to Kangaroo Court, which being on foot because I live downtown because this is supposed to be a Top Ten Place In The Universe didn't help me much.