The case of the broken post office door
In an August edition of the Butler Eagle, a delivery supervisor at the Andrew Gomer Williams Post Office in Butler called a broken door “very inconvenient.”
Earlier in the summer, the double doors and their hinges on the Main Street side of the building were damaged in such a way that they couldn’t easily be opened and closed.
One door in the set of double doors was held open at that time with a cord strapped to a bar during the day, allowing people to enter the building from that side, but it was closed and locked when the retail section of the office isn’t in service. The door normally is always unlocked so people can access their post office boxes at any time.
The custom-ordered door would take about six weeks to get here, the supervisor said in the Aug. 25 interview.
But more than three months later, the door could be seen propped open in a similar way during the day. Now December, the post office is seeing extra customers mailing packages for the holiday season.
A different supervisor said the door’s delivery has been delayed. The office had to contract out the building of a new door because it is a specific make, according to a supervisor.
Some people called U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, about the issue. He played a role in naming the Butler Post office after Andrew Gomer Williams, a local Civil War officer, attorney and public servant.
Still, the problem remains, and as winter arrives, it becomes a little more challenging to prop open the door. Of course, we know the saying: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Likewise, the weather shouldn’t impede entry to the post office, but no one wants Butler’s cold winter wind gusting into the post office every day from now through the springtime.
This is not an open-and-shut case, to be sure. Supply chain issues over the past years have made such acquisitions difficult. But for the good of the folks working inside in their winter gear, and the people who require special accessibility, and the person who has to pay the affected heat and air conditioning bills, we certainly hope the case of the broken post office door can be solved soon.
— TL
