N.H. senators question post office changes

SUGAR HILL, N.H., June 25 (UPI) -- Both U.S. senators from New Hampshire have put their support behind town residents who were upset about a recent change in post office hours.

Sugar Hill residents had complained about the post office abruptly changing its service window hours from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10:30 a.m. until noon on Saturdays to 10:15 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. each day, The New Hampshire Union-Leader reported Monday.

U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D, and Kelly Ayotte, R, sent a joint letter Friday to Deborah Essler, Northern New England district manager, customer and sales for the U.S. Postal Service.

"We are concerned about both the nature of the changes in service and the manner in which they were made. We urge you to consider holding a community meeting in the town to ensure that affected residents, government officials and small business owners can ask questions and offer their input about the future of retail postal service in Sugar Hill," the letter read.

"Last month," the senators wrote, "the USPS revised its retail network optimization strategy with a continued focus on ensuring that communities have a voice in the process. While we understand that this particular change in hours is the result of a pending collective bargaining dispute, we believe the town of Sugar Hill should also have an opportunity to make its concerns known."

A Postal Service spokesman declined to comment on the situation.