Clinton Hill post office patrons are being left out in the cold this winter.
The Pratt Station post office is still closed as work continues on the condo building up Myrtle Avenue, where it is supposed to make its new home on the ground floor. The branch shuttered in October and the new location is not set to be completed until “sometime after March,” according to a Postal Service spokeswoman. In the meantime, locals looking to mail a letter have to visit a Postal Service truck repurposed as a drop-off point, which is only open until 2 pm, and people who missed package deliveries have to trek all the way to Bushwick to retrieve them.
A customer mailing a package at the mobile station on Jan. 28 said he thinks he knows why it is taking so long.
“It’s government work,” said Greg Henderson, who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant. “That’s the answer to that. These guys probably get paid by the hour.”
Henderson said he schlepped to Bushwick earlier in the week to pick up a parcel and counted 53 people on line to do the same thing.
“Everyone was on the phone complaining,” he said.
People looking to purchase stamps, pay for their post office box, or mail packages can use the mobile unit, which is parked in front of the new location at 609 Myrtle Ave. between Taaffe Place and Kent Avenue. The portion of the new facility housing post office boxes is operational, but both it and the truck are only open from 9 am until 2 pm, Monday through Friday, hours that are a huge pain for most working people.
“The problem is that you have to pick your mail before 2 pm,” said Barbara Clinton, who has a box at the new Pratt Station. “People getting off from work won’t make it here by then.”
Henderson admits that the line for the truck is usually shorter than what he encountered at the old Pratt Station branch. To say he doesn’t remember it fondly is an extreme understatement.
“I was ready to go postal just trying to mail a package there,” he said. “I hope this place is an improvement.”
In a statement, the Postal Service thanked residents for their patience.
“Brooklyn Postmaster Edward Roggenkamp and the Pratt Post Office team want to thank the community for their patience and cooperation, and especially their patronage over the years, while the USPS works through this transition,” the blurb reads.
