Whilst standing in line at the post office

[Adam H. Kerman]

Wow.

I'm on the board of directors of several nonprofits that maintain PO
Boxes at the downtown postal station.

On Saturday, September 15, 2018, the pass-through window wasn't open.
Generally, it's open and tended Monday through Saturday, till noon or
12:30 pm. There are no window clerks on Saturdays, so there's no one at
the post office to assist.

The security guard told me that the pass-through window had been closed
the past few Saturdays. When I called on Monday, they told me that
effective August 11, mail was no longer being distributed in the box
section.

Isn't this contrary to nationwide policy of six-day-a-week delivery?

Now, businesses in a business district carrier route don't have Saturday
mail delivery unless they inform the post office that their business is
staffed to receive mail, but that's not the case with the box section.

This is a major cutback of service and must have meant a major reduction
in clerk staffing.

I called my member of Congress.

[Adam H. Kerman]

After several weeks, the station manager of the facility in question
finally returned my call. Yeah, yeah, mail volume is down, and he's
saving the work of four clerks on a Saturday shift in which mail volume
can readily be absorbed on Monday. He keeps claiming that there's no
enough mail for the clerks to throw, but that really doesn't make any
sense. It's a huge facility with a great many PO Boxes.

He had the nerve to tell me that he'd hung a note over the summer at the
pass-through window. There's no regular notice board at this facility
and never has been. No one looks at any notes near the pass-through
window unless he's there specifically to receive mail.

And, no, my member of Congress hasn't followed through yet.

[Adam H. Kerman]

The situation at this post office has gone from bad to worse. The PO Box
lobby is open only till 7 pm weekdays, closed evenings, overnight, and
weekends and holidays. It was open 24 hours a day.

A homeless man set a fire. They still hadn't made a decision about
putting the hours back.

Still no Saturday delivery.