Post Office close for lunch?

[mumto3girls]

There are 4 post offices I frequent fairly regularly—only one of them closes for lunch and it is definitely the smallest of the 4, but not rural. It actually closes at an odd time though—like 10:30-11:30 when it opens at 9. It has nothing to do with Covid—has been that way for at least 10 years.

 

[MillauFr]

Well they did increase postage prices in July. They have expanded delivery to Sunday delivery under an agreement with Amazon because they make money on it. And they were going to close an in store grocery store branch here, but then did an audit and found it was making money too. So there is no simple solution. And some have called for them to raise prices for bulk rate (read that as junk mail) but that makes money too.

The fact that they needed an audit to figure out if a branch was profitable tells you all you needed to know about how the post office is run.

 

[tvguy]

The fact that they needed an audit to figure out if a branch was profitable tells you all you needed to know about how the post office is run.

LOL. Their biggest issue really is many of the services they are required to offer by law aren't profitable.

 

[design_mom]

I looked up several around me. One of three closes for lunch. It’s the most rural of the ones I looked up.

I’m guessing it has to do with staffing levels. If it only makes sense for one person to be staffing the window, they’re required to give that person a break sometime!

 

[Kitty 34]

Small town here.....ours has always closed for lunch.

 

[Snowflakey]

Small town here.....ours has always closed for lunch.

Same here!

 

[slo]

I live in a medium sized town and our post office and surrounding town post offices do not close for lunch

 

[Jennasis]

Similarly, the DMV office here closes for lunch.

 

[Minnesota!]

The 3 I use most frequently do not close for lunch. And, all 3 are always packed, no matter what time I go, there is a long line. Nicest people working at all 3, though, so I don't mind

 

[mrodgers]

this is not a post covid thing. They said this has always been the norm

Every pharmacy I know of for as long as I remember, you walked up at a certain time there was a sign saying "Out to lunch, expected back at X:XX"

Same with the post office, but I don't live in the big city. The city that is my home city now has a big post office, but I never go there. Every township has their own small single person manned office.

 

[mrodgers]

And are increasing again on January 22nd to $0.63

Wow, I'm really out of touch with the USPS. I think the last time I mailed something it was $0.39. I still have 19 of those 20 stamps.

 

[AppleDumpling]

As far as I know, none of the post offices in my town or neighboring towns close for lunch. The local pharmacy does, as well as one of my doctor’s offices.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

While I haven’t seen it at the post office, my local CVS has the pharmacy close everyday for a half hour for lunch. And because people don’t read signs and texts, I’ve seen many a fight go down when I show up five minutes prior to lunch ending to get on line and humans don’t pay attention. I shut down a fight about two weeks ago when I said the signs are everywhere and my text message says closed for lunch this time to this time. The staff knows me well enough ( I went to high school with one of them) to know I’ll defend them to kingdom come.

What made it sadder was this human cut in front of an elderly man patiently sitting in the chair waiting for his vaccine appointment. You probably could’ve heard my blood pressure skyrocket in that moment.


And the reason why they did this was because during the initial vaccine distribution there was a lot of chaos and rudeness. The half hour lunch works better for everyone between scheduling and in case someone is out they have a chance to regroup.

 

[AppleDumpling]

Wow, I'm really out of touch with the USPS. I think the last time I mailed something it was $0.39. I still have 19 of those 20 stamps.

I honestly don’t keep up with it either, but aren’t all stamps now “Forever” stamps? I buy a sheet of those, and since we mail out very little, it lasts a long time.

 

[RedAngie]

I honestly don’t keep up with it either, but aren’t all stamps now “Forever” stamps? I buy a sheet of those, and since we mail out very little, it lasts a long time.

Yes, i bought a sheet of 20 forever stamps several years ago and still have half of them. I have no idea how much they cost.

 

[sailorstitch]

As far as I know my post office doesn't close for lunch. It wouldn't surprise me if they do. They are having post-covid staffing issues. There have been a few times I've went in there and there was a sign on the window that they were closed due to staffing issues.

 

[monsterkitty]

I'm in a suburb of Denver. The three closest post offices to us all close at lunch. The area I'm in is growing incredibly rapidly and they can't hire enough employees. Some neighborhoods in my area only get mail delivered 2 or 3 times a week. Our mail doesn't come until after 7 pm because the postman has to many areas to cover.

 

[CdnCarrie]

We haven't had post office buildings in decades. There are post office outlets located inside drug stores around the city but no actual physical building that is just a post office except the big depot hub by the airport.
The desks in the drug stores do not close for lunch that I'm aware of at all.

 

[firefly_ris]

not when the person who I was having the conversation with told me it's always been that way at the post offices in her experience. As in 20 plus years

Yes same as the post office near my parents. It's a small town and the building is very small. She closes for an hour for lunch. Same lady been working there since I was a teenager. There is another one about 20 minutes away that is bigger and doesn't close for lunch.

 

[sam_gordon]

It's not unusual for government offices to close during lunch. Why should the post office be different?

That being said, a quick google search shows me the following:

That is the only one (and there are 14 others) that indicate they are closed for lunch. It is in a small community, but others in small towns are open through lunch.