For Susan Webster and her friends, it's a quick trip from work on North Pearl Street down to the Patroon Station on Broadway.
"We walk down here on our lunch hour to get all our errands done," Webster says. "It's really convenient. We don't even need to drive."
"We don't have to worry about beating the 5pm closing when we go home, so it's nice," says Laurie Fusaro.
Soon that convenience will be gone. Thursday, when the women saw a sign on the door telling them the station is set to close permanently on March 25th, they couldn't help but wonder why.
"They do a lot of business," Webster says. "I don't understand what the problem really is."
The Patroon Station isn't the only one. Earlier this week, a petition to save the station on Delaware Avenue was denied.
It's part of a nationwide restructuring effort by the United States Postal Service due to financial struggles, including an 8.5 billion dollar loss last year alone.
The postal service says quote:
"As cities and towns expanded outward, many of the existing postal facilities remained in place...A realignment of these postal facilities to match today's community activity and usage, as well as mail volume and other postal resources, is necessary."
A spokesperson tells us the decision to close the Albany stations wasn't easy, but rather the result of a year long study.
Still customers we spoke with say, its going to be a major inconvenience.
"I wouldn't be able to go anymore on my lunch hour," says Laurie Fusaro.
"Then you have to do it on the weekends because they're closed at night," Webster says "It's really bad."
Those with a PO Box account can move it to the Kimberly Square Office on Albany Shaker Road in Loudonville.
The Pine Hills Station on South Allen Street. A postal service spokesperson tells us they are still waiting to hear back from headquarters in Washington D.C. for that decision.
