Postal Service Cuts Weekend Service at Most County Offices

Despite the long lines at the stamp counter or the traffic jams in the parking lot, Gary Hanson still prefers to take care of his business at the post office on Saturday mornings.

Like many people who work daytime hours during the week, Hanson, of Huntington Beach, said that Saturday is the only day that is convenient for him to mail packages or purchase stamps. He stopped by the main office on Warner Avenue on Friday because, beginning today, the Postal Service is discontinuing weekend window service at most post offices in Orange County.

“I was very upset to hear that,” said Hanson, 50. “I have relatives back East, and I do a lot of mailing. I usually come on weekends, and now it will be inconvenient. I guess I’ll have to go to the vending machines.”

Hanson’s ire stems from changes in post office hours due to federal budget cuts.

5 of 10 Offices Affected

Five of the 10 post offices that formerly were open on Saturdays--the main office in Huntington Beach, the main office in Orange, the main office in Westminster, the Fountain Valley office and the Bristol Station in Santa Ana--no longer will offer Saturday window service.

Opening and closing times also have been curtailed at many offices, and some will shut down for an hour at midday during the week. And beginning tomorrow, mail no longer will be picked up from mail boxes on Sunday.

“Most people probably aren’t aware of it yet, but they will be as soon as they show up at a post office and expect it to be open,” said Joseph Breckenridge, spokesman for the Santa Ana Division, “It isn’t something we wanted to do, but it was necessary.”

Postal officials said they expect longer lines during the week--and a few disgruntled customers.

“The lines probably will increase during the week, especially Fri days and Mondays,” said Jim O’Hare, postmaster of the main office in Huntington Beach. “We were normally open 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, and we do fairly good business on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, when the budget gets cut, something has to go.”

Tina Marasco, 21, of Garden Grove, said she is concerned that weekday hours are being cut at the main post office in Orange, which is near where she works. The new hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“I usually come to the post office after work about 6 p.m.,” she said. “The cutbacks will probably cause problems because this is a busy post office. I usually have to wait in line 20 to 30 minutes.”

The changes are not happening just in Orange County. Post offices nationwide are being forced to cut back services in an effort to save money. In order to achieve a balanced budget, the U.S. Postal Service was ordered by Congress to reduce expenses by $1.24 billion between Jan. 1, 1988, and October, 1989.

Sources of Budget Cuts

About two-thirds of the cuts--$815 million nationwide--will come from administrative budgets, officials said. Administrative positions, except for postmaster jobs, won’t be filled, and expenses for supplies, services, training and travel have been reduced. The remaining $430 million will come from operating budgets.

Additionally, first-class postage rates will rise from 22 to 25 cents in April. This increase was requested before the budget cuts were ordered.

The Santa Ana Division of the U.S. Postal Service, which includes most of Orange County and parts of Riverside County, operates on a $356-million annual budget, which is being cut by 7%, officials said. The 10% reduction in window service will save $500,000 through October, 1988, and the elimination of Sunday collections will save $250,000 over the same period.

The mandate covers 21 months, but officials said they are unsure if the services will be reinstated at the end of that period.

“We will face some difficulties in processing the mail at the level we should if we don’t have the restraints lifted in a reasonable amount of time,” said Hector Godinez, general manager and postmaster of the Santa Ana Division. “In Orange County, with the growth we have, there has to be a profound effect if it lasts very long. I hope it’s a short-term duration, but we are gearing up for long-term. I don’t see any change this . . . year.”

The cutbacks will affect approximately 64 of the 6,500 employees in Orange County, who have either worked as window clerks on Saturdays or in distribution on Sunday night, officials said. No jobs are being eliminated, but some work schedules are being altered to accommodate the weekend cutbacks.

Employees were notified of the changes two weeks ago, and they were less than enthusiastic, according to Bobby Donnelson, president of the Southwest Coastal Area local of the American Postal Workers Union, which represents the window and distribution clerks.

“Once they told us the meeting was coming, rumors started flying. But the changes weren’t as bad as we had expected. We thought all three shifts on Sunday would be affected. And we thought 90 to 100 jobs in Santa Ana would be affected,” Donnelson said.

In fact, only the Saturday window clerks and the Sunday night shift were affected, involving a total of 64 people.

Workers had been concerned that job assignments would change because union rules require that jobs be posted anytime there is a schedule change, and people with seniority would have priority. But the local union decided not to have the jobs posted and placed up for bid.

Patricia Almengor, 38, has been employed by the postal service for seven years. It took a long time for her to get her current job as a distribution clerk on Sunday nights, and she was not willing to give it up. She got to keep her job assignment, but she now has Saturdays and Sundays off, rather than Fridays and Saturdays as she preferred.

“This is really nothing, because we’ve found out that we aren’t losing our jobs. We’re still working in the same capacity, and we don’t expect any more changes,” she said. “When we first heard about it, there were people crying on the floor. People were very concerned . . . because we thought we might be assigned something we didn’t want.”

In order to save money, officials said they will have to cut back on hiring new employees during the 21-month period. Employees will likely have to work some overtime, but officials said they do not expect the workload to increase drastically since the people who normally worked Sundays will be available for other jobs during the week.

“The savings will come from attrition. We will take resources and move them around to absorb the additional workload. . . ,” Breckenridge said. “Window clerks will be tasked with doing other jobs like sorting and distributing mail, where perhaps we would have had to bring in more resources to do that.”

In addition, the company will save the 25% differential paid to employees who work Sundays, Breckenridge said. Employees said that differential could range from $18 to $25. Some construction plans also have been put on hold, officials said.

Godinez said the new post office schedules will be evaluated in the next few weeks to determine if they are effective. If they are not, changes will be made, he said.

“If we feel one area of the city has a lot of people who work five days a week and need Saturdays to do business, we will open that place. If we have another area that doesn’t depend on that, we will limit operations on Saturday. We want the inconvenience to be minimal,” he said.