LAKEWOOD, CA — In an effort to reduce costs while maintaining customer service, the Lakewood Post Office will adjust public retail hours effective April 1, 2013. The changes were approved after careful analysis of customer traffic patterns and transaction history.

The new retail hours effective April 1 are: Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Lakewood Post Office has an Automated Postal Center kiosk available 24 hours a day to purchase stamps, weigh mail and ship packages when the retail lobby is not available. 

A generation ago customers had no choice but to visit a Post office to buy stamps or ship a package. But today it’s not just about brick-and-mortar Post Offices as the Postal Service moves online and into retail outlets, grocery stores, office supply chains and pharmacies.

Responding to changing customer needs and a business plan that calls for expanding access to Postal Service products and services, there are now over 100,000 locations outside of Post Offices to buy stamps and ship packages. In fact, over 40-percent of Postal Service retail revenue comes in through expanded access channels.

Anyone with Internet access also has a Post Office always open in their computer. At usps.com customers can buy stamps, print shipping labels and download postage, schedule a free package pickup, change their address when they move, look up a ZIP Code or hold their mail when they are away. Almost any transaction that can be done at a Post Office can be done at usps.com!

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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