The Boerum Hill and Clinton Hill post offices are packing up and shipping out.
Neighbors used to patronizing the Atlantic Avenue post office in Boerum Hill will have to endure a longer hike to a formerly industrial building at 594 Dean St., between Sixth and Carlton avenues, which is about a 10-minute walk away in Prospect Heights, according to the Postal Service.
The post office near the Pratt Institute in Clinton Hill is moving just three blocks to the ground floor of a condo building at 609 Myrtle Ave., between Classon Avenue and Emerson Place, a mail rep said. But neighboring seniors say that is plenty to make life difficult for the most elderly among them.
“It could be a lot of work for someone who is 90 years old,” said Shama Duncan, a manager at Willoughby Walk, a co-op complex around the corner from the current Myrtle Avenue location.
More than half the residents there are older than 60, according to Duncan. Unplugged oldsters are more likely to use the post office than their younger, spryer neighbors for whom an extra three blocks is a breeze but snail mail is less of a necessity, said Duncan and the administrator for a local panel.
“Most Saturday mornings, my mom leaves the house and pops a couple letters or postcards in the mail,” said Community Board 2 district manager Robert Perris. “If I buy a book of stamps, it’s going to last three years.”
Perris down-played the potential for outcry over the relocation of the Clinton Hill depot.
“It’s hard to fault this location,” said Community Board 2 district manager Robert Perris. “It’s not that much farther away for most people. Some will benefit. Some will be mildly disadvantaged.”
Regulars at the Boerum Hill postal outlet have long complained that it is dirty and disorganized. Perris said he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the move would solve the problems.
“Perhaps the new location will have a positive impact on employee morale,” Perris said.
One patron, having just survived the line at the Atlantic Avenue post office, said the location is a hassle but not unique.
“It’s like this at every post office,” said Fatima Pate. “This is New York.”
Pate, who lives with her parents in Crown Heights, said she and her folks usually travel to Boerum Hill for their mail needs because their local post office is even worse.
The Clinton Hill post office is being forced out by its landlord, who wants to redevelop the property, Perris said.
A spokeswoman for the Postal Service did not know how long the transition will take, but said that renovations have to happen before the mailmen and women can make the move.
