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The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
November
18 - November 24, 2004 Edition
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Post
office hours vary across the Island November 18, 2004 By Ezra Blair
A Times analysis of the five post offices across the Island revealed five different operation schedules for the five lobbies and five different schedules for the lobby windows. According to a postal service spokesperson, the U.S. Postal Service headquarters in Providence R.I. sets post office hours of operation for the Vineyard post offices. The postal service establishes the hours based on mail volume, staffing, and geography. Differences in any of those factors could shorten or lengthen the hours that a post office is open for business. On Martha’s Vineyard, each one of those factors plays a role in determining when postal patrons can check their mail, send packages, or pick up parcels. The Vineyard Haven post office has the longest hours of operation for both the lobby and the window, out of all the Island post offices. Monday through Friday the lobby is open from 7 am to 5:50 pm, and on Saturdays from 7 am to 4 pm. The window is open from 8:30 am to 5 pm on weekdays, and from 9:30 to 1 pm on Saturday. Christine Dugas, a public affairs spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service based in Providence, R.I., said the Vineyard Haven post office has geography on its side. Because the post office is so close to the Vineyard Haven Steamship Authority (SSA) terminal, it can do business for nearly half an hour later than the other Island post offices. “All the mail from the Island gets sorted off-Island, so it all has to go over on the Steamship Authority ferries. Because the Vineyard Haven post office is so close to the ferry, it doesn’t have to close as early as the others to make the boat that all the mail goes over on,” said Ms. Dugas. The Edgartown post office has the second longest hours of operation on the Island. The lobby opens at 7 am every day, except Sunday, and closes at 5:30 pm on weekdays, and 3:30 pm on Saturdays. Window hours are from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm during the week, and from 10 am to 1 pm on Saturday. The three other Island post office open their doors at least an hour later than Vineyard Haven and Edgartown. West Tisbury opens it’s lobby at 8 am, while Chilmark and Oak Bluffs don’t open until 8:30. All three close at 5 pm on weekdays. On Saturdays West Tisbury closes at 2 pm, Chilmark closes at 3 pm, and Oak Bluffs closes at 4 pm. Ms. Dugas said the differences are due to a number of factors. While she did not provide a specific formula, she said the hours are based heavily on the volume of mail that goes through each of the branches. She said the postal service tries to keep the post offices with the most demand open the longest, but that it is always a balancing act. “We are self supporting, so we have to make sure that we are operating as leanly as possible. Most of the hours are pretty close, but for each of them we look at the allocation of work hours, and the area needs, to determine when they will be open,” she said. Ms. Dugas said the hours that the window is open at each of the post offices is also based on volume formulas, as well as staffing expenses. She said the postal service tries to stagger the times the windows are open, especially on Saturdays when the windows are open for a limited time. The Vineyard Haven post office, which handles the highest volume of mail on the Island, opens first on Saturdays, at 9:30 am, and closes 1 pm. Edgartown and West Tisbury both open next, at 10 am. West Tisbury closes two hours later at 12 pm, and Edgartown stays open until 1 pm. Chilmark is the next to open on Saturdays, at 11 am. It remains open for three hours until 1 pm. Oak Bluffs, which opens it’s window at 12 pm on Saturdays, stays open for two hours, and closes at 2 pm. Ms. Dugas said with the each branch opening for two to three hours at staggered intervals, Islanders have access to at least one post office for much of the day. “Our resources don’t allow us to keep everything open the longest set of hours, so we have to stagger them to keep them open. The way we have it now allows people to at least have access to a postal facility somewhere on the Island,” said Ms. Dugas. |
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