READ THIS NEXT: USPS Is Getting Rid of This for Customers, as of Nov. 10. The USPS has had to deal with its fair share of service disruptions in recent months—and some are still impacting customers to this day. Back in September, the agency began temporarily closing post offices in Georgia and Florida due to Hurricane Ian, and several of these locations have not yet reopened. That same month, the Postal Service withdrew deliveries from a neighborhood in Ohio after a mail carrier was attacked by a loose dog in the area. USPS spokesperson Naddia Dhalai told The Vindicator that deliveries will only resume “when it is safe for the letter carrier,” but there has been no update since then. Last month, the Postal Service also closed a post office in Ohio, as well as facilities in Louisiana and New York “due to safety concerns.” Now in November, the agency is once again being forced to adjust its operations. The latest service disruption is going to impact some residents in the most populated state in the U.S. On Nov. 4, the USPS updated its Service Alerts website to warn customers about newly adjusted operations in Riverside, California. According to the alert, the agency is temporarily closing the Magnolia Center Post Office, effective immediately. Customers are being directed to the Downtown Riverside Post Office for mail and retail services during the closure. “Customers are reminded to bring proper photo identification for mail and package pickups,” the Postal Service added. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. In its Service Alerts update, the USPS said that it was closing the Magnolia Center Post Office “due to safety concerns.” But in a separate local news release issued Nov. 4, the agency elaborated on exactly what concern was affecting the postal facility. According to the release, the post office in Riverside had to be shuttered after a morning fire earlier that day. The Postal Service said that the Magnolia Center facility had sustained damage as a result of the blaze, which was confirmed by local news coverage. The Press-Enterprise reported on Nov. 5 that a 34-year-old man who had just been arrested is suspected of going around Riverside and setting a series of fires, including the inferno that caused an estimated $80,000 worth of damage to the Magnolia Center Post Office. According to the newspaper, the fire entered the postal facility through a window but firefighters were able to contain it to just half the building.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Despite the costly blaze, Postal Service representatives confirmed that no mail, including mail-in ballots, were destroyed or damaged by the fire. Still, the post office will be closed indefinitely, USPS spokesman Duke Gonzales told The Press-Enterprise. “The Magnolia Center Post Office will reopen as soon as it is safe to do so,” the agency said in its news release. Fires don’t appear to be an uncommon plight for postal facilities. In the last year alone, the USPS has had to temporarily close a number of post offices around the U.S. because of fires. Facilities in Fairfax, Minnesota; Highlander, Texas; and Casper, Wyoming, have all been hit in 2022. Some of these post offices are likely still closed now. The Postal Service has confirmed it reopened the Casper Post Office, but there have been no further updates indicating that the Fairfax or Highlander post offices have been reopened to the public. Based on previous incidents, it could take many months to well over a year for a postal facility to reopen following a fire. For instance, a post office in Longs, South Carolina, is still closed after a fire erupted at the facility in June 2021, and USPS officials don’t expect to have it repaired and reopened until early 2023, News 13 reported. Over in Highland Township, Michigan, it took more than seven months for the post office to reopen after a blaze was set in Dec. 2021, The Oakland Press reported.
title: “Usps Is Suspending Services Here Effective Immediately” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Connie Owen”
READ THIS NEXT: USPS Says You Can’t Do This With Your Mail After Nov. 5. For almost a decade now, the Postal Service’s consumers have been able to easily check online for current mail disruptions in their area. In 2013, the USPS created its Service Alerts page, which was born out of a transformation of its Mail Service Updates site. According to the agency, these alerts provide “customers with near real-time information about postal facility service disruptions due to weather-related issues and other natural disasters or events.” The page is now organized to provide “more complete, timely information” on various mail issues.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb “Feedback from residential customers and business mailers following natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy prompted us to take a close look at Mail Service Updates,” USPS Consumer Advocate Krista Finazzo said in a 2013 statement. “We wanted more effective communication with our customers during service interruptions. Now, residential consumers and business mailers have an easy, online location to learn the operating status of Post Office and mail processing facilities.” With that in mind, residents in one part of the U.S. are able to see the latest about a new USPS disruption. The latest update to the USPS Service Alerts page was made on Oct. 26, when the agency announced that a post office in Birmingham, Alabama, is now temporarily closed. According to the alert, the Postal Service has halted “all operations” at the Bluff Park Finance Branch facility for the time being. “All operations have been moved to Birmingham Hoover Station,” the USPS wrote. “PO Box customers can retrieve their mail at the retail counter of Birmingham Hoover Station.” RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. According to a separate news release issued on Oct. 26, the Postal Service said it has suspended operations at the Bluff Park Post Office “in an abundance of caution.” The release went on to explain that a “safety concern” was impacting the facility but did not elaborate on what the exact issue is. Local news channel ABC 33/40 reported that the USPS confirmed the concern involves structural issues at the location, however. “The U.S. Postal Service’s priority is the safety and well-being of its employees and customers,” the agency wrote in its release. “Postal officials are working to resolve this safety issue and will be providing an update to customers once a thorough assessment has been completed.” Despite being the newest, the Bluff Park Finance Branch is hardly the only USPS post office closed right now. Certain customers in New York and Ohio are also having to work around local facility closures that were initiated this month due to similar “safety concerns.” The Stanley Post Office in New York is not servicing the public at this time because of “unforeseen roof repairs,” while the Pemberton Post Office in Ohio is closed after sustaining damage from a recent fire that broke out at the facility. Meanwhile, a facility in Grandview, Iowa, is closed right now as the result of another fire, and retail operations at the post office in Mosinee, Wisconsin, are suspended because the building’s lobby is dealing with structural damage caused by impact from a vehicle. Several facilities in Florida are also still experiencing temporarily suspended operations due to Hurricane Ian, which hit the state nearly a month ago on Sept. 28.
title: “Usps Is Suspending Services Here Effective Immediately” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “William Nelson”
READ THIS NEXT: USPS Says You Can’t Do This With Your Mail After Nov. 5. There are over 30,000 post offices located throughout the U.S., and they received more than 749 million customer visits just last year, according to the USPS. But these facilities are not always in service. Most post offices are open six days a week, but closed for retail operations on Sunday and shut down entirely for federal holidays. At the same time, there are localized closures that happen across the country for various reasons. According to the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), the agency’s district managers can “also suspend the operations” of any post office under their jurisdiction for causes such as extreme weather, the termination of a lease or retail agreement, lack of qualified staff for operation, severe damage, and safety challenges. Now, another post office has shut its doors. The USPS does issue alerts for consumers when postal facilities are experiencing service disruptions. According to the agency’s latest update on its Service Alerts page, residents in Hawaii are facing a new closure.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb The alert—which was posted on Oct. 18—indicates that the retail section of the post office in Pahala, Hawaii, is now closed. Customers have the option to go to several nearby locations for retail services “during this closure,” the USPS said. This includes other Hawaii-based post offices in Naalehu, Hawaii National Park, and Volcano. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. In its Service Alert, the USPS said that the Pahala Post Office’s retail section is closing “due to safety concerns” but did not elaborate any further. However, based on local news reports, it appears that the safety concerns have to do with recent damage to the building. On Oct. 15, Big Island Video News reported that the retail lobby of the post office in Pahala had “closed indefinitely” following two earthquakes that occurred under the Big Island’s Mauna Loa volcano the day prior. According to the news outlet, the USPS issued a news release in the town reporting that the facility’s building had experienced damage to some of its interior light fixtures as a result of the earthquakes. The Pahala Post Office’s PO Box lobby was not damaged by the natural disaster, however, so mail service to the facility’s 600 hundred PO Box customers will not be impacted. “We apologize for any inconveniences that this temporary closure causes and appreciate our customers’ understanding and support,” Pahala Postmaster Gina Gomes said in a statement, per Big Island Video News. “The safety of our employees, customers and the mail are our top priority. We will reopen our retail lobby as soon as we possibly can.” The Pahala Post Office might be the latest closure reported by the USPS, but Hawaii is hardly the only state facing recent service disruptions at one of the agency’s facilities. As of Oct. 19, there are at least 15 states still listed on the Service Alerts page, with some states like Minnesota and South Dakota continuing to deal with post office closures from July. Prior to the Hawaii update, the USPS reported on Oct. 15 that operations at 10 different post offices in Florida “remain temporarily suspended until further notice” due to Hurricane Ian, which hit the state on Sept. 28. Certain residents in New York and Ohio are adjusting to more recent postal closures, as the Stanley Post Office in New York and the Pemberton Post Office in Ohio are both currently closed due to safety concerns. At the same time, a facility in Grandview, Iowa, is shut down right now as the result of a building fire, while retail operations at the post office in Mosinee, Wisconsin, are suspended because the building’s lobby is dealing with structural damage caused by impact from a vehicle.
