HAGERSTOWN, IN — In response to changing economic conditions, the Hagerstown Post Office is adjusting retail counter hours. The current weekday retail hours of Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. will change to Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday retail hours of 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon remain unchanged. New hours will be in effect January 3, 2011.

“Like any retail business, the Postal Service regularly reviews operations and makes adjustments when necessary,” says Postmaster Greg Tielking. “The decline in mail volume driven by the downturn in the overall economy has impacted customer traffic in our retail lobby resulting in a decline of workload.”

Tielking points out that customers can purchase most mailing and shipping products and services available from the Postal Service without making a trip to the Post Office.

The Postal Service website, usps.com, offers a wide variety of options. Customers can buy stamps and send packages, print shipping labels with postage, arrange for package pick-up, find the closest Post Office to apply for a passport, make your own greeting cards, postcards and letters, create customized postage with digital photos, put mail on hold, and change your address when you move. Customers can also purchase stamps by mail, or by phone by calling 1-800-STAMP24.

In addition, the Richmond Post Office has an Automated Postal Center in the lobby that is available 24 hours per day, every day of the year. The ATM-like kiosks accept credit or debit cards and can handle 80 percent of retail counter transactions such as mailing packages and purchasing postage.

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

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no direct support from taxpayers. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.