ROCHESTER — Overworked local letter carriers think it might be a good idea to get your holiday cards and packages mailed out soon, because the number of city postal workers is dropping as Rochester’s population grows.
Duty rosters from Rochester’s main post office and its Bear Creek facility, obtained by the Post Bulletin, show that 103 carriers delivered the city’s mail in 2017. That number has dwindled to 85 today, according to an October 2023 roster. Of those 85 carriers, 36 have worked for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for three years or fewer.
That’s a 17% decrease in postal carriers on Rochester streets — all while the city adds more streets and people. The number of addresses or mailboxes is estimated to have gone up by about 3,000 compared to 2017.