Times Plaza Post Office Not Closing, Taking Steps to Improve Service

A that has had residents complaining for years is in no immediate danger of closing, according to the United States Postal Service.

Steps to improve the quality of the Times Plaza Station are already underway following a meeting last month between Postal Service officials and Boerum Hill residents, said USPS spokesperson Darlene Reid.

And although five Brooklyn post offices are on the list of 3,700 across the country to be studied for possible closure, Reid said the office is safe for now, there is still uncertainty about the future.

“Times Plaza, at this time, is not on the list to study,” Reid said. “It doesn’t mean that in the future – one year out, two years out, five years out – it couldn’t possibly be on the list.”

“The Postal Service is looking at any possibility to become more efficient," she added.

For now, the Postal Service is focusing on finding Times Plaza a manager. Last month, the acting manager of Times Plaza retired, leaving a vacancy. Reid says that spot will soon be filed.

“We’ve posted the manager position for Times Plaza and will begin the interview process this week,” Reid said. “The successful candidate should be placed by month’s end.”

To address the litany of complaints about the office’s lackluster service, Triboro District Manager Lorraine Castellano has installed an internal task force to address complaints into the Times Plaza station. Whenever someone calls the Postal Service’s customer service line, the data is entered into an internal database called “My Postal Service,” which the task force can then use to track any issues specifically directed at Times Plaza.

The office has an over thirty-year history of trouble in Boerum Hill. Residents complain that deliverymen refuse to drop off packages, that the staff is rude and the office unorganized. Last month, after a meeting between neighborhood residents and the office of Brooklyn Postmaster Carmen Fede, the postmaster said that improvements would be gradual, but that change would come.

A follow-up meeting has been set up for the end of October. Boerum Hill Association President Howard Kolins, who helped set up the meetings, has seen some improvement in the office itself, but says the follow-up meeting will give residents a chance to provide substantial feedback.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what they do,” Kolins said of the Postal Service. “I certainly appreciate their efforts to get started to go down this road.”