Postal Offices to Return to Normal Service

Window service at the nation’s post offices, reduced last February to save money, will be returned to normal levels in September, Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank announced Friday.

Frank told the Postal Service Board of Governors that his managers have been able to find enough savings in other areas to end the reduction in window service, which was one step to trim spending by $160 million.

Frank said at a news conference that local postal managers have been directed to restore window service effective Sept. 10. Guidelines call for a return to “the same level of service that existed prior to Feb. 13,” he said.

That doesn’t necessarily mean exactly the same hours, however, Frank said.

Local managers will have the discretion to decide what changes are best for their community, he explained. For example, in some areas evening hours may be expanded, while in others an extra clerk may be put on at busy times instead of having longer hours with fewer clerks.

When the cuts were made, “some of the decisions were not the best choices,” Frank said. Now, some of the mistakes can be rectified, he said.

The cuts in window service amounted to about half a day a week, and in many areas that meant closing offices Saturdays. Other communities had their post offices closed one morning or one afternoon a week.

The changes drew considerable criticism, particularly since they occurred just before an increase in postal rates.

In his four months in office, Frank has struggled to explain that the rate hike was initiated more than a year ago because of growing deficits, while the service cuts were required when Congress ordered a sudden reduction in postal spending.