By: Maria Moore

Some residents have asked us about the petitions around town asking for the hours of operation of our local (06057) Post Office not to be cut back. Following is the background to those petitions:

No sooner had the carriers from the New Hartford Post Office been reassigned to the Winsted Post Office this past Spring than rumors started to circulate that the hours of operation of the New Office would soon be cut. Some residents, including our reporter, expressed their concern to First Selectman Dan Jerram who, in turn, wrote to the Post Office’s Operations Manager in Hartford to convey those concerns and to ask to be updated on any possible changes being considered for New Hartford; see a copy of Dan Jerram’s letter: Change In Operations Letter, Dan Jerram (104).

The First Selectman hasn’t received any response to his May 19 letter; however, in late June a notice on the front door of the Post Office seemed to confirm residents’ fears: the window hours on the Saturday before the 4th of July holiday were being cut back to 10 a.m. through 12:00 noon, instead of their regular 9 a.m. through 1 p.m.

The entrance to the New Hartford Post Office on July 2. Photo: Maria Moore

On July 2 our reporter went to the Post Office at 9 a.m. and watched as a steady flow of residents went about their regular business at the Post Office – or almost. Those who had come to transact business at the window were unable to; they each tried to open the door inside the lobby and when they couldn’t, they turned back with a confused look on their faces to read the hours of operation on the blue sign on the door; “9 a.m.” the sign said, and yet there they found themselves, after 9 a.m. and with the door locked. Their confused air deepened, until our reporter pointed out the white sheet of paper above the blue sign announcing the holiday-shortened hours. No-one could remember the Post Office hours being cut back before, and a number of the would-be users wondered why they hadn’t been informed of the change. Residents’ reactions to the change in hours differed; a number of them were clearly annoyed at the incovenience. Some shrugged left, saying they would run other errands before coming back later to transact their business, others said they wouldn’t have time to come back again that day, and a few tried to figure which other post offices might be open at that time.

Asked what they thought about the change in the hours, several residents expressed their dismay, saying they lived on Main Street and didn’t have mail delivery to their homes. “I have a hard time getting to the Post Office in the evening,” a young woman who works out of town said, “It’s going to be even more difficult if they cut back the hours.” An older gentleman who said he spends summers at West Hill Lake, said: “A government office should be able to start work by 9 a.m.!” Another resident said she would be happy to give up Saturday home delivery of mail rather than to cut the office hours; another resident immediately after her disagreed, saying that she wouldn’t want to lose Saturday delivery. Two residents suggested that the Post Office would do better to close the Pine Meadow Post Office and keep the New Hartford Post Office hours unchanged.

Only one resident among the 24-30 people our reporter spoke to said that she thought the cut in hours was necessary for the Post Office to stay afloat financially.

Our reporter left the Post Office at 10 a.m. when the window opened for business and with the steady stream of customers continuing unabated.

July 2 Petition

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Our reporter had brought with her to the Post Office a petition she had prepared asking for the hours to remain unchanged. During the one hour that she had been at the Post Office, approximately 90 to 100 residents came to use the Post Office; approximately 35 residents tried unsuccessfully to use the window, and of those our reporter engaged in conversation approximately 20 of them; of the 20, 15 signed the petition she had prepared asking for the Post Office hours to remain unchanged.

Ongoing Petition: Your signature Is Needed!

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For the past two weeks Jennifer Lajoie and her mother Charlene of New Hartford Center have been collecting signatures of fellow residents in an effort to keep the hours of the New Hartford Post Office unchanged. Copies of the petition are available at the following locations:

• The Town Clerk’s Office at Town Hall;
• The Tax Collector’s Office at Town Hall;
• Passiflora Cafe;
• Hoffmann’s Hardware Store;
• Village Hair Care;
• Radwick’s Coffee & Sandwich Shop;
• New Hartford Farmers’ Market (Friday afternoon);
• Blue Sky Foods.

Please stop in at any of the above locations to sign a copy of the Post Office petition.  Or you may download and print out a copy of the petition and collect signatures among your family and friends; download a copy of the petition New Hartford Post Office Petition, July 16 (146).

You may leave off completed sheets of the petition at any of the above locations.  On Friday, August 5, all the petitions will be collected and they will be hand-delivered to Chris at the New Hartford Post Office.

Thank you for helping to deliver the message to the management of the Post Office  that New Hartford is a vibrant, growing community that needs a full-time Post Office to fill its needs.

The notice on the door of the New Hartford Post Office with the shorter hours of operation for July 2. Photo: Maria Moore