Tuesday, May 26, 2020

When the Post Office is out to lunch



There was a lunchtime line today at the Peter Stuyvesant Retail Post Office on 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... turns out the branch was closed for lunch between noon and 1:30 p.m., something P.O. regulars here can't recall seeing before... the lobby doors were also locked, so patrons couldn't even drop off pre-paid mail or check their mailboxes...



Thanks to Sonya!

21 comments:

  1. In Soviet Union most businesses (all state owne of course) closed for 1 hr lunch daily. First hand knowledge😁

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  2. Oooh, BANKER'S HOURS come to the Post Office! Really, who doesn't need 90 minutes for lunch?

    Does this in any way explain all the mis-delivered, undelivered, and missing mail my block has experienced recently?

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    1. I'm sorry but nobody should require 90min lunch break. I worked a very labor intensive job for 12 hrs shifts based on production so it was constant work in-between the 2- 15 min breaks & 30 min lunch. In 12 hrs didn't have 90mins of break equal time.

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  3. never seen that in a U.S. location. have seen it in paris.

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  4. It's not great (read: super annoying), but why the puzzlement? They are almost certainly operating with limited staff. If there's no one else working, they have to close up for lunch.

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  5. Just typical disrespect from The USPS and their employees.

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  6. @6:53- Yes, but in Paris I would often have my mail delivered twice a day. After a long lunch and being fortified with cigarettes, vin rouge, and the plat du jour the local postman would happily deliver a second letter or parcel from abroad.

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    1. In England I used to get the second daily delivery at 4. Here you get your only round at 6...

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  7. They should stagger the lunch to help the community.When you get inside, there is no social distancing. Many people are not wearing masks. They sometimes open late and sometimes they close early, without warning.I see the same amount of people there now, as I did before. They're just making ip their own rules, thats what it really is.

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  8. Who gets a 90 minute lunch break?

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  9. Anon 6:49,

    No it doesn't...also someone from that post office opened my package broke some stuff stole some stuff and taped it back up and still managed to deliver it on the clock! When I complained I never heard back from them and they never gave me my money for a refund or an apology. They ghosted me. So maybe they need to retire and hire new people over there. And no they should not be closed for lunch, just no.

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  10. This is not a good sign.

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  11. An hour and a half for a lunch break on an eight hour shift? You wonder why the USPS is in trouble. Crunch the numbers for down time and you will be surprised. This is not justice this location. It is the entire post office system.

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  12. Was this a one time thing or is it now daily? Thanks!

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  13. From a Website called "Federalsoup.com,"
    "Are they allowed to take a break while dilvering mail and stop somewhere for food or do they have lunch before they leave the office in the morning? authorized stops. Most carriers will have at least one break in the office. an addendum: lunch is 30 minutes, breaks are 10 minutes."

    Time to complain to elected officials, folks:

    Carlina Rivera
    District2@council.nyc.gov

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  14. Now you know the hours, so plan accordingly. If it scares you, you should be fine wearing your own mask. You don't need to wear someone's elses mask for them.

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  15. The USPS isn't in trouble because of long breaks. Get real. I agree that they could work in shifts to avoid closing for so long. Same thing happening at the Cooper Square branch, by the way.

    Watch the John Oliver clip on why the post office is in debt here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoL8g0W9gAQ

    Or the Samantha Bee clip here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbsfYPJwV1I

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  16. There is another post office not too far away if you are that desperate to mail something. If its better service and quality you want you can pay for it by going tp Fed Ex or UPS.

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  17. 55 cents to mail a letter anywhere in the country is still one of the great deals. I have no complaints.

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  18. Re 1:02pm - Post Office lost 8.81 billion in 2019 so that 55 cents doesn't actually cover the cost to mail a letter.

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  19. As a former letter carrier for the United States Postal Service the service windows never closed. We weren’t a big station. There were 13 mail carriers for the 13 routes. We had 6 clerks, a couple of part time employees ( myself) who would work doing clerk and carrier duties,a supervisor and the postmaster. This was in the mid eighties when I started. We drove the old Jeeps with the right hand drive. And for lunch one clerk would have lunch and the other would go back to work. It’s just a shame what’s happening to my beloved USPS. I’m glad they are going electric because it’s perfect for the kind of work a lot of carriers do. Be kind

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