For the past several months, Rindge residents report experiencing delays in their mail and sporadic closures at the Rindge Post Office, with few answers coming from the U.S. Postal Service about when full services are expected to resume.
Nancy Arnold of Rindge said she has been experiencing sporadic missed days of mail deliveries for a year, but the problem has worsened in the last few months. She said she first noticed a sign in the office announcing unexpected staffing issues several months ago, which might cause office closures, and said the problem still persists.
“Right before Christmas, it looked like a going-out-of-business sale – nothing was available,” Arnold said. “I still don’t know what happened.”
Rindge Selectman Bob Hamilton said he has been hearing complaints about the post office closure from residents, but said it’s “a local problem, but needs a federal cure.”
“There’s nothing we can do at a local level,” Hamilton said.
As a resident himself, Hamilton said he has been experiencing mail delays, sometimes of several days, at least since November.
Arnold said there are still days where she misses a mail delivery, sometimes as often as twice a week, and she said she has started using the neighboring post office in Jaffrey to purchase things like stamps, since they’re open more regularly. Hamilton agreed, saying “I don’t even bother going,” to the Rindge post office, noting he had made a trip to Jaffrey on Monday to purchase stamps.
Arnold said she just expects delays now.
“It’s a little concerning for me, with things like medication through the mail,” Arnold said.
Arnold said she has been told the availability is not due to illness, but a lack of staffing. Steve Doherty, a Postal Service spokesman for the Northeast Region, stated that employee availability due to COVID-19 remains an issue.
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present unprecedented challenges and occasionally impact employee availability. We thank our customers for their understanding and continued support,” Doherty stated. “We have taken specific actions to continue service to our valued customers, which includes continuing to fully authorize overtime to allow employees to work the time necessary to deliver mail, expanding mail deliveries to earlier in the morning, later in the evening and on Sundays to ensure customers receive mail at the earliest date possible, using additional carriers from nearby offices, when necessary, to maintain mail deliveries by assessing daily needs and repositioning employees to where the mail volume is daily.”
When asked about the specific circumstances in the Rindge Post Office, Doherty declined to comment, citing privacy protections regarding facility-specific medical information.
Doherty did not respond to questions regarding whether Rindge mail specifically was delayed, whether any neighboring offices are assisting the Rindge office or overtime hours had been approved, or if or when regular service was expected to resume.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.