Bethesda post office hours change

The United States Postal Service has changed the hours of the Bethesda post office at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue. Until further notice, the post office will no longer be accessible 24 hours a day. Access to the post office lobby and its self-service functions will now only be available during business hours, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, on weekdays. The lobby will close an hour earlier, at 4:00, on Saturdays. And the lobby will be closed all day on Sundays.

"Unforeseen circumstances" are the reason for the change, according to the USPS. There are two issues that may explain the change, however. Most obvious, is the coronavirus outbreak. But related to that, the post office has recently become an unofficial hotel for homeless people, who sleep on the floors inside at night. This was already an unhealthy situation, but now imagine adding Covid-19 to the problem. People living unattended in the post office at night certainly exposed the USPS to legal liability, as well as post office users to potential criminal activity.

The new hours render the P.O. Boxes here essentially useless to people who work during the day. Hopefully they will restore wider hours after the pandemic has ended.