After complaints, DUMBO post office reopens

‘Repairs’ Completed, USPS Says

August 2, 2013 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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One day after the Brooklyn Eagle wrote about DUMBO residents and workers frustrated in their attempts to mail packages and letters, the United States Postal Service reopened the neighborhood’s only post office, an unmanned “Self-Service Kiosk” at 84 Front Street.

The little storefront had been mysteriously shuttered and empty for roughly a week, and several customers believed their outgoing mail was stuck inside.

USPS said in a statement to the Eagle, “The Postal Service regrets any inconvenience that your readers may have experienced while repairs were being made inside the office. The office was closed after business Thursday evening at which time all mail was dispatched as usual.”

The statement continues, “Postal officials want the community to know that repairs have been completed this afternoon . . . We want to thank the community for their patience and look forward to providing the high level of service our customers have come to expect and deserve. Customers with inquiries regarding service may call the USPS Customer Service center at the toll free number, 800-ASK-USPS (800-275-8777).”

According to the General Accounting Office, USPS owned and operated about 2,500 kiosks, also called Automated Postal Centers (APCs), as of 2010.

Post office patrons told the Eagle that they had been told the facility was closed because someone lost the key. “Over the past week I was told by people at Cadman [Plaza post office] that the key was lost, but not by whom,” DUMBO resident Maria Hoey said. “The same explanation was also given by the USPS police officer who I spoke with on the phone. He said that Cadman Plaza had lost the key and that he told them to call a locksmith.”

Hoey is happy the branch is finally open, but says that a package she mailed from the DUMBO kiosk before it closed is still lost.

“My package, sadly, is still MIA with the tracking showing only [it] being dropped off at the DUMBO APC last Monday, July 22nd. A call this afternoon to check on the status of my case got me this reply: ‘The case has been resolved.’ Unreal. Obviously this is just one of those random times when things go totally wrong. So I opened a new case with the USPS,” Hoey said.

“I was also given the option to submit a complaint via mail,” she added. “The irony of that.”

As opposed to “Approved Postal Partners,” which are branches inside privately owned retail businesses such as Home Depot, kiosks like the DUMBO branch are USPS property maintained by postal employees, according to a USPS spokesperson.