WASHINGTON – Residents who use the Rifton Post Office were given a 30-day notice that it would be closed down on April 5 due to a safety hazard on the leased property where the facility is located and on Thursday, Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) fired off a letter to Postmaster DeJoy wanting answers.
Postal services, including post office boxes, were shifted over to the Tillson Post Office.
Ryan said residents were not given any further explanation for the Rifton closure, a reopening date or timeline.
He said the relocation of services has placed a strain on the daily lives of Rifton residents, including seniors who rely on the local post office for mailed medications and for residents without internet access who rely on postal services for communications like bills and notices.
“Abrupt closures are more than inconveniences to daily routines – seniors don’t get medications on time, crucial bills get misdelivered, packages get returned,” he said.
The congressman said residents “appreciate the need to immediately remove any safety hazards, but that’s not an excuse to leave the community without so much as a reopening date and abandon all customer service.”
He told DeJoy that hopefully the postal service can work with the landlord to provide them with timely and transparent information.”
In June 2023 when the Westbrookville Post Office closed with 24-hours notice, Ryan and local advocates and officials lobbied the postal service successfully to have that facility reopened the next November.
