Myron Dorfman checks his P.O. box at the new Montpelier Post Office at 89 Main Street on Monday, October 7. The entrance is on East State Street. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
The U.S. Postal Service is opening its Montpelier location to full postal services after more than a year of limited service after the 2023 flood.
The 89 Main Street location began offering mail and package shipping and the sale of postage stamps and shipping supplies starting Monday, according to a press release. It also continues to house P.O. boxes, which have been in the space since late July.
The previous post office, located at 87 State Street, was heavily damaged by the July 2023 flooding in Montpelier. It has moved several times since then, from parking mail trucks at the National Life building to an outdoor facility along Route 302 to a brief stint in the Berlin Mall.
In April, the Postal Service signed a lease agreement for the space at 89 Main Street inside City Center, promising a full reopening this summer. Over the past few months, it opened the space for P.O. Box use but not for shipping or retail sales.
The Montpelier Commission on Recovery and Resilience has advocated for a permanent downtown post office since the flood. The commission helped organize a rally with Vermont’s congressional delegation demanding answers on the delay in January and wrote numerous letters and op-eds expressing frustration with the lack of communication from USPS.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., attended another rally on the issue just days ago.
“I’m really excited for the citizens of Montpelier and for the businesses in Montpelier that we have access to full retail services,” said Ben Doyle, chair of the commission. “I am really disappointed that it took over 450 days for that to happen.”
Postal worker Wendy Gillander assists a customer at the new Post Office in Montpelier at 89 Main Street on Monday, October 7. The entrance is on East State Street. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Doyle called on USPS leadership to work with the local, state and federal governments to envision what a resilient post office might look like amid a slowly recovering downtown and a changing climate.
“We can do things differently in a way that’s going to make (Montpelier) a better place for everyone, and that can weather climate change. But we need everybody pulling together,” he said.
The post office will be open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Postal Service plans to hold a “grand reopening” event this Saturday with cake and coffee, according to USPS spokesperson Steve Doherty.
After hearing about the retail opening on Monday morning, Montpelier Mayor Jack McCullough swung by the post office to check out its new features. He described it as a large and mostly empty space with P.O. boxes and a newly-opened counter.
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He said finally having a full-service retail post office would be “good for the city,” but that he still had questions about what the long-term plans of USPS would be and why it took so long to open.
“It took way too long, and I’m glad that they finally got their ass in gear to make it happen,” McCullough said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: USPS relaunches retail postal service in Montpelier.