Northampton postal workers protest service cutbacks

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NORTHAMPTON – Holding signs reading “Don’t Let our Mail Service Fall Apart,” a half-dozen postal workers Monday evening stood in front of the Northampton post office calling attention to service cutbacks.

Beginning Dec. 1, the window will close at 4:30 p.m. instead of 5 p.m., they said.

Workers said they want retail hours expanded, not cut.

The U.S. Postal Service is facing a nearly $7 billion potential loss this fiscal year despite a 2-cent increase in the price of stamps in May, cuts in staff and removal of collection boxes.

Postal Service spokeswoman Maureen Marion said postal branches across the country are looking at ways to cut costs and refine services.

In Northampton, the decision was made to reduce window hours and increase resources spent sorting and delivering mail, she said.

People who routinely go to the window may be upset, but people who rely on home delivery may be pleased with more prompt service, she said.

The impact of the reduced window hours will be offset by automated service offered in the lobby 24-hours a day, she said.

The service is looking at closing as many as 1,000 offices across the country. Among them is the Colonial Station branch at 1149 Main St. in Springfield, said Ronald M. Jordan, president of the local affiliate of the American Postal Workers Union AFL-CIO, who was on the site.

Robert P. Leroux, who has been in the Northampton office for 20 years, said the staff has been reduced over time from eight to three full-timers. He said mail used to be sorted and placed in post office boxes by 9 a.m., then it was 10 and some days the mail isn’t posted until afternoon.

He said the Northampton office is at a disadvantage because since 2007 it has had an officer in charge, rather than a postmaster. Without a postmaster, “there’s no one to (advocate) for the community,” he said.