You may have noticed it already -- one of the few post offices to be open until midnight has reduced its hours.

The Riverton Heights Post Office, 15250 32nd Ave. S. in SeaTac, changed its normal closing time of midnight on weekdays to 6 p.m.

"The postal service has been in dire financial straits for several years," said USPS spokesman Ernie Swanson.
He said that the postal service was delivering less mail and has experienced a reduction in mail volume of "over 20 percent."

"[So] we needed to institute cost cutting measures across the country, which means reducing hours of operation," he said.

The early closure, which started on Monday, Feb. 28, has sparked some local opposition, including SeaTac Councilwoman Pam Fernald, who says that the 6 p.m. closure is too early.

"Because of work, people cannot get to a post office before it closes. This is the only post office open after 6 p.m. and people come from all around to use it," she wrote in a letter to the Highline Times/SeaTac News.
"SeaTac is a 24-hour-a-day city," Fernald said. "We're at the foot of an international airport, we have people coming and going all over, we have hotels here, we don't sleep, so people expect the postal service [to be open as late as possible]."

Fernald said that the Seattle postmaster, Robert Montgomery, would consider the option of extending the 6 p.m. closing time and would contact Fernald and other concerned groups by March 18.

The gesture leaves Fernald hopeful that some sort of compromise can be reached, especially now that she has the support Congressman Adam Smith.

She read off a sentence from a letter that Smith had sent to the Western Regional post office regarding the decision to reduce the hours at Riverton Heights:

"I would appreciate the fair and full consideration of the economic impact that the changing hours will have on local businesses and communities."

In addition, Fernald had been concerned about the lack of communication from USPS to notify customers about the early closure, as no flyers had been mailed out to the surrounding community.

This concern resulted in one of Congressman Smith's aids, Debra Enteman, requesting to the postal service that they contact Smith's office to work on proper outreach to customers the next time a similar event - such as an early closure - may happen at a post office in his district.

The midnight closure also made the location popular for sending out last minute tax returns, another blow that comes from the reduced hours.

Swanson, USPS spokesman, says that postal service has taken tax-filing season into account.

"The manager at Riverton said [there will be] personnel at Riverton Station accepting envelopes up to midnight," he said.

Swanson also emphasized that this only applied to tax returns. This year, the tax-filing deadline is April 18.
He also says that there are no immediate plans to bring back the midnight closing time.

The Riverton Heights Post Office's new hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.