Plainsboro residents looking to purchase stamps, mail packages, or pick up mail from their P.O. boxes no longer have to worry about doing so during their post office’s normal hours.##M:[more]##
Since December 1, the Plainsboro Post Office’s lobby has been open 24 hours to allow residents to do all of those things using their debit or credit cards.
Linda Grice, the post office’s distribution clerk, says post office officials decided to go ahead with the move because they realized many residents commute to work, which means they sometimes catch trains before and arrive home after post office hours.
“A lot of people would get off the train at 7 at night, and they can’t get to the post office, and they can’t come in early because they have to pick up the train at 6 a.m.,” she said.
Someone who wants to buy stamps or mail a package can do so by using automated debit and credit card machines. In order to mail a package, the customer would place his or her package on the scale, and the touch-screen machine will walk the customer through the process. The customer can put the package in the chute, which also pulls down and allows someone to place a package safely inside.
Customers who also have P.O. boxes with the post office can come in and use their keys to pick up their mail at any time, night or day.
Anyone who decides to purchase or mail a package has to use a debit or credit card, as no cash is accepted, Grice said. “If they need boxes, like priority boxes, we do have access to them also, and they’re free,” Grice said, adding that all other forms, such as those needed for change of address or to put mail on hold, are also located in the 24/7 lobby.
Postmaster William Clark, who organized the lobby’s new hours, said it all came down to customer service. The only thing that really needed to be done to enable the 24/7 lobby was to add minor security features, like extra lighting outside, he said.
The new 24/7 lobby seemingly puts Plainsboro’s post office ahead of the game when compared to other neighboring post offices. At the West Windsor/Princeton Junction post office on North Post Road, while the window is open until 7 p.m., the lobby is not open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This post office, however, will offer an automated lobby beginning in a couple of weeks, in which the window will close between 4:30 and 5 p.m., but patrons will still be able to buy stamps and mail their packages through an automated machine using debit, credit, or cash, until 7 p.m. However, that will not be open all night long.
At the Princeton Post Office on Roszel Road, the operation is similar. The window closes at 4:30 p.m., but the automated machine is open until 7 p.m., where patrons can buy stamps or mail domestic packages using debit or credit cards. It also is not open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
