There's no zip in N. Andover's Post Office, unhappy clients say

The lone Post Office in North Andover is a cramped, two-clerk station pinned to a Dunkin' Donuts downtown. The white trim out front is peeling, and the window boxes hold not annuals or perennials but damp leaves and cigarette butts. The wait inside can exceed 20 minutes, and the line sometimes stretches to the sidewalk.

In contrast, neighboring Andover offers four post offices, including an airy Stevens Street flagship fronted by half-barrel planters with flowers and little American flags. More to the point, North Andover postal customers say, the Andover Post Office stays open into the evenings, and it offers a self-service shipping kiosk 24 hours a day. North Andover's Post Office closes at 5 p.m., no questions asked.

"Anybody who goes there has to be a masochist," especially on crowded Saturday mornings, said John Desmond, a North Andover resident who encouraged town officials to appeal to the federal government for postal help. The selectmen and town manager plan to ask the US Postal Service and the town's congressional delegation if anything can be done -- an extra clerk maybe, or possibly an automated kiosk, if not necessarily the construction of a second post office.

"We really feel as though with perhaps extended hours, having all the windows open, it would certainly cut down on the wait time, and certainly make it more convenient for people," Selectwoman Rosemary Connelly Smedile said. "And I don't think it's an unreasonable request. We only have one Post Office, and Andover has four."

Smedile and others make it clear their concerns are with the size and the wait time at the facility, not the postal clerks, whom they praise for patience and helpfulness under adverse conditions. "The people who do work there are terrific," she said.

Smedile said she avoids the North Andover Post Office during the holiday season and on Saturday mornings year-round, heading instead to Andover's main Post Office. She also crosses the border anytime she wants to mail something after 5. The Andover facility stays open until 7 p.m.; it also boasts a 24-hour Automated Postal Center, a computerized lobby terminal that can weigh and process packages, dispense postage, and even look up zip codes. While there, Smedile often runs into friends and constituents.

Back home, many of those same North Andover residents are practiced in the art of the post office vestibule heel-spin. "They walk up to the door, they open the door, they look in, they grimace, and they walk back out," Smedile said. "They just turn around and leave, because they know how long the wait is."

On a recent afternoon, the line in North Andover waxed and waned. Sometimes it stretched along the wall toward the vestibule, 10 people deep; at other times, though, the Post Office was empty. But almost everyone coming out the door attested to having endured 25-minute waits in the past or voiced feelings of federal neglect.

"They've always shortchanged us," said Nat Stevens, a house painter and lifelong North Andover resident.

The statistics show that Andover has a population of 33,042 over about 32 square miles, while North Andover, which incorporated in 1855, has 27,155 residents and about 27 square miles, according to 2005 US Census Bureau estimates. But North Andover's Post Office is squeezed into 2,400 square feet of space, while the largest of Andover's Post Offices is 32,000 square feet, although some of that is used for an underground garage, said Robert Boisselle, a regional spokesman for the Postal Service.

The USPS tracks window activity in an attempt to appropriately staff post offices, Boisselle said. From June 2006 to June 2007, Andover handled 424,218 transactions at its four post offices, including nearly 292,000 at Stevens Street, while North Andover handled 201,711 during the same period, he said.

Smedile said those numbers don't accurately reflect demand, because so many North Andover residents drive to Andover for postal needs.

A few years ago, the Postal Service considered building a new facility in North Andover near Lawrence Municipal Airport, but it abandoned the plan, Boisselle said. For now, the federal carrier is training a back-room employee in North Andover to assist customers periodically at that Post Office's third window, which is usually closed, he said. Beyond that, it is unlikely that the USPS will be adding employees, extending hours, or offering other new services in North Andover.

"Quite honestly, I don't think it's going to happen," Boisselle said, recommending instead that North Andover residents consider visiting usps.com to order stamps, print shipping labels, or arrange pickup from home.

Across Main Street the other day, Mal's Barber Shop owner Frank DiBenedetto watched people trickle in and out of the Post Office from a bench in front of his shop.

"Seems like there's always been complaints," said DiBenedetto, who has been trimming hair -- and trying to avoid post office lines -- in North Andover for 30 years. "It's just brutal."

But DiBenedetto's friend, Alfred Bianchi, said he didn't think waiting a few minutes at the Post Office was something to complain about.

"They're doing a wonderful job over there," he said, sitting down for a cigarette outside the barber shop. "Tell America it's time to slow down. Take it easy. Relax."

Eric Moskowitz can be reached at emoskowitz@globe.com.