The Glenford post office has closed indefinitely due to rising rent, according to American Post Workers Union (APWU) Mid-Hudson President Diana Cline. The 177 Hurley residents served by the small office at 216 Old State Route 28 will now receive and send mail from post office boxes at Woodstock’s United States Postal Service location.

Glenford residents received a letter about a month ago about the closure, which set in officially on Monday.

Despite its location in Hurley’s hamlet, the Glenford office operated under the auspices of Woodstock’s post office. Cline said Woodstock’s acting postmaster decided to vacate the building when the landlord expressed unwillingness to renew the lease at its previous rate. The one clerk who worked inside the office was let go, Cline said, without notification to the APWU.

“We need people to squawk,” said Cline, who will be joining the Hurley Town Board next year. “You don't want to lose your post office — if you lose your post office, you're going to lose your identity.”

She argued that even if the office cannot remain open, the people of Glenford should receive post offices boxes at West Hurley’s post office, rather than Woodstock’s, which is a farther distance from Glenford. The mountainous trek to Woodstock, she contended, would be inconvenient or even dangerous in the wintertime, especially for elderly people.

The restructuring of Glenford’s mail delivery reflects a larger movement towards post office “consolidation” across the country. In early 2023, the USPS announced forthcoming efforts to move mail sorting from 15 post offices across the Hudson Valley to one “Sorting and Delivery Center” in Newburgh. Cline, who has worked in the postal service for decades, works part time at the new sorting and delivery center.

“I loved my post office job,” she said. “I hate this job.”

By moving all the sorting and delivery to one location, she said, the consolidation ultimately generates more work for mail sorters, longer trips for carriers and longer trips for residents who are sending and receiving packages.

Cline plans on contacting state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, U.S. Rep. Marcus Molinaro and U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan for help in getting the Glenford office reopened and, in the meantime, switch Glenford’s mail operations to West Hurley.