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On alert

Timely information helps customers during bad weather

Buffalo snow
A Postal Service vehicle is buried under several feet of snow in this file photo.

USPS Service Alerts is updated frequently, with information on specific facilities and ZIP Codes.

For example, as of 10 a.m., Jan. 27, the site reported the Northeast blizzard had caused the closure of facilities from the New Jersey shore to Maine’s Down East region, including the cities of New York and Boston.

“We provide this information to our customers so they can plan accordingly,” said Business Customer Support Services Manager Dale Kennedy.

Online Solutions ensures the service alerts are posted quickly. When necessary, an on-call team updates the site after hours and on weekends

USPS Service Alerts has received about 100,000 hits since the Northeast blizzard began.

“The site gets a lot of traffic during major storms,” said Online Solutions Manager David West. “We’ll see many more residential customers and mailers come to the site to learn when mail operations will be back online as the Northeast starts to dig out.”

USPS also shares information on social media, using Twitter to answer customers’ inquiries and Facebook to post information in areas with service changes. Since the blizzard began, USPS service updates have reached 48,000 people on Facebook and almost 13,000 on Twitter.

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