Hundred PO To Reduce Hours

Hundred Post Office
A crowd of about 25 residents learned at a special meeting Thursday that the Hundred Post Office will have its lobby hours cut to six per weekday.
Paul Portillo, manager of post office operations, made the announcement at the Hundred Church of Christ. He explained that the reduction is part of a nationwide plan to cut hours in an effort to save money.
“Financially we are in a pretty rough situation,” he said. Since the economic downturn in 2009, the U.S. Postal Service has lost over 40 million transactions. “A lot of folks really migrated to the internet,” he noted.
The explained that the USPS does not get any tax dollars to run their business. “We don’t want tax dollars. We want to remain self-maintained,” Portillo stated.
Two years ago he was doing meetings talking about closing post offices, but on this round they are only reducing hours at about 15,000 post offices nationwide. “There is no part of the plan that allows us to close a post office,” he said.
He stressed that Hundred is actually lucky that they are only being reduced to six hours per day. Only 22 percent of the affected offices are enjoying that much time. The others are being reduced to two or four hours per day.
Del. Dave Pethtel questioned the new hours, which are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with an hour lunch break from noon to 1 p.m. “It seems to me that’s going to present a problem,” said Pethtel, citing that people who work usual weekday hours will not be able to get to the post office.
Portillo said the morning hours were necessary to keep the mail flowing correctly. There will be package pick-up boxes for patrons and they can purchase stamps through an envelope system they will put in the lobby. Also, the office will be open on Saturdays from 7:30 to 9 a.m. The lobby will remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Pethtel wanted to make it clear, “The United State Congress is making these decisions, not the West Virginia House of Delegates or West Virginia Senate.”
When asked when the changes will take place, Portillo said it would probably be 60 days before patrons see a reduction in hours. Proper notices must be given.