HONESDALE, Pa. — People coming and going from the post office on Main Street in Honesdale took an extra minute to read the sign posted on the front door. Employee shortages have forced the temporary adjustment of hours.
Some people got lucky and were able to get their mail out before the counter service closed. Others were not, including Alison Kandrovy.
"It's frustrating that it has come down to this really, that we can only go to the post office certain times of the day, just either in the morning or maybe two hours in the afternoon. Honestly, it's a real problem," Kandrovy said.
"I'm not sure why it's happening. I'm not sure why they're having a hard time attracting employees, but it's really frustrating for everyone, I'm sure even more so for the employees," Audrey Sampson said.
People we spoke with said they believe staffing issues are also why some of them have not gotten their mail for the last few days, and they don't understand why people aren't taking these jobs.
"Poor workers, you know they need help, and it would be nice if other people came and applied," Kathy Popko said.
"It's something that needs to be corrected sooner rather than later. People need to start applying for these jobs. They need to start getting back to work, getting back out there. It's getting really bad," Kandrovy said.
"I guess they're making it easy for people to apply right now because they need people so much, but at the end of the day, if the job isn't going to pay you enough to live on," Sampson said.
In a statement, the United States Postal Service said, "The postal service is aggressively hiring in the region and appreciates our customers' patience."
Beginning Wednesday, the Honesdale Post Office will have counter service hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
People who have a post office box or need to drop off mail can still do so inside the post office during normal business hours.