The Beacon Post Office is not closing – as of now – despite rumors and two local publications misunderstanding the information (WRRV and ALBB) and who have both issued corrections. However, with the flurry of articles concerning the posts offices in the Mid Hudson area that are slated to undergo a big change, came answers of clarification from the USPS and the City of Beacon. Let’s dive in.
According to the USPS and the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) via letter, some local post offices – 16 in the Mid Hudson Region, and 200 post offices across the country are slated to stop having carriers deliver mail from them – but instead will drive to local centers to pick up the mail and drive it back to their local routes.
Carriers will not get the mail from the local post office, like Beacon, but will instead get it from a Sorting and Delivery Center (S&DC). According to Steve Hutkins of SaveThePostOffice.com, who also lives in the Hudson Valley, who has been following and reporting on the post office for over 10 years: “Beacon and the other post offices on the list will be giving up their carriers to the Sorting & Delivery Center in the Mid Hudson Newburgh facility.” Residents will still have their mail delivered to their homes by carriers. But the carriers will be driving to and from Newburgh – across the Hudson River on the traffic-prone Newburgh/Beacon Bridge – to do this.