By Colin Monahan
West End residents have expressed their continued frustration and dissatisfaction with USPS Station A, located at 622 Congress Street. They cite unpredictable hours, unexpected and sporadic closures, lost mail, and poor service amongst other complaints.
“I have a mailbox here and have packages I haven’t been able to pick up for two weeks now. This morning the post office is locked, and box holders can’t even access mail in boxes,” said one customer in September.
Unnotified closures have been the chief complaint of Station A in the past year. A Google review of Station A posted in August reads, “I tried to go there three times at different times of the day and found the office window closed at a time it should be open, once with a note, the other times without.”
Station A’s service disruptions go beyond closures. “This weekend I received a letter from a financial account indicating that my last statement was returned to the sender because my address has changed. I spoke to the financial services firm, and they confirmed the letter was returned to them by the post office saying I was no longer at the address!” said one PO box holder.
Staffing Issues
Regional USPS representatives have cited the nationwide staffing shortage for Station A’s service disruptions. “I’m told we did have a short-term issue there with staffing a few weeks back. While the retail window was impacted, there was a clerk being sent down from another office to sort the PO box mail each day. Currently, through the regular bidding and training process, this has been resolved and the retail window has been open every day and will be going forward,” said Steve Doherty, USPS strategic communications specialist, on October 19th. USPS is hiring for nearly every position in Portland.
The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has also corroborated staffing as a primary issue in addition to budgetary issues. “Years of downsizing under the erroneous concept of the Postal Service ‘going broke’ has been a primary cause of this. As you may know, financial issues with the Service were directly the result of the requirement under the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) which required $5.5 billion prefunding of retiree benefits. That prefunding mandate has been corrected by Congress, and we must now return staffing to where it needs to be,” said Scott Adams, General President of APWU of Maine.
PAEA required the Postal Service to prefund healthcare benefits seventy-five years in advance for its employees. This mandate effectively left the Postal Service in an operating deficit. Senator Susan Collins was a central architect for the 2006 federal statute. In 2008, Station A in Portland nearly closed due to budgetary issues. In February 2022, the US House of Representatives passed the Postal Service Reform Act, reversing the prefunding mandate.
Customers’ complaints have not gone unheard.
The APWU of Maine has acknowledged the importance of Station A to Portland’s residents. The union is working with the USPS to staff the station. “We are actively engaged in the grievance process and negotiations to ensure that Portland and its stations and branches are properly staffed to meet the needs of the public. We are not there yet. Station A has been closed approximately fifty times since the beginning of August, which is completely unacceptable. It is not conducive to quality service in Portland’s Arts District, and impacts the other offices, as well, increasing customer wait times significantly,” said Scott Adams.
In addition to the union, both Senator Angus King’s and Congressperson Chellie Pingree’s offices are looking into Station A’s closures. “People in Maine and across the U.S. rely on the Postal Service, and since 1918, USPS has dedicated itself to being a reliable and accessible part of our daily lives. I understand frustrations felt by people in Portland and across Maine who continue to face disruptions to their vital mail services. Simply put, it is unacceptable. My office has been working to get to the bottom of the service disruptions and unexpected closures, and we have been assured by the Postal Service that clerks are being staffed to keep Station A open daily,” said Pingree.
Station A has since been staffed and open regularly. West End residents can expect normal service hours in the coming months.
USPS is currently hiring across Maine.
You can contact Christopher Smith at Christopher.Smith@USPS.Gov for more information about the application process. Customers may address concerns to the Postal Service via their website. Portland residents can contact Senator King’s office to escalate any further concerns.
Colin Monahan is a community organizer, server, and journalist. His previous work has focused on social movements in Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Georgia. Colin believes in accessible, independent, local journalism.
