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Weekday hours to be trimmed at post office

The local post office is expected to implement new retail hours beginning January 26.

A 30-day notice posted in the lobby at the 195 E. Main St. facility last month advises customers that, based on a review of a customer survey in delivery area, the retail window hours will be trimmed by four hours each weekday.

The survey was sent to each customer in the delivery area and post office officials also conducted community meetings to obtain resident input.

A post office official said that while some surveys were not returned in Washingtonville, they did get most of them back.

The realignment is part of a U.S. Postal Service plan to preserve the nation’s smallest post offices and the new strategy, a multi-phased, two-year approach won’t be completed until September 2014.

Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe said, “Meeting the needs of postal customers is, and will always be, a top priority.

“We continue to balance that by better aligning service options with customer demand and reducing the cost to serve.

“With that said, we’ve listened to our customers in rural America and we’ve heard them loud and clear they want to keep their post office open.”

Once implementation is completed, the Postal Service estimates savings of a half billion dollars annually.

Current hours at the Washingtonville post office are 7:45 a.m. until noon, closed from noon until 12:45 p.m. for lunch and from 12:45 p.m. until 4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday.

On Saturdays it is open from 8:30 a.m until 11:30 a.m.

Effective Jan. 26, the retail window hours will change to 10:30 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. with lunch from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m.

The current number of Saturday window service hours will not be reduced but have been adjusted and access to the lobby mail boxes will not be changed.

Donahoe said while achieving real savings it will also help the Postal Service return to long-term financial stability.

The Greenford Post Office is undergoing the same process and will see window service reduced to four hours per weekday also. That post office is located at 12184 Lisbon Road in Mahoning County.

No date has been set for implementation of the new hours and a letter from District Coordinator Thomas Lipker said Saturday window hours will not be reduced.

He said adjusted hours will be announced.

Larry Shields can be reached at lshields@salemnews.net

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