The U.S. Postal Service branch office in the basement of the Student Center will halt many of its services for six weeks starting next week in an effort to cut costs.
The Postal Service said in a letter to MIT that the branch will be closed beginning on Monday, July 20, and will reopen on Monday, Aug. 31. Customers with personal mailboxes in the foyer will be able to access them from 9:00-10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Customers with mailboxes need further assistance outside of those times should call 617-575-8733 or 617-575-8700.
The Postal Service has asked members of the MIT community to use adjacent postal facilities in Cambridge while the campus branch is closed. The closest ones to campus are at 250 Main St. near Kendall Square (open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday) and at 770 Massachusetts Ave. near Central Square (open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday).
The Postal Service said the decision to close the MIT branch for part of the summer was part of a nationwide initiative.
"With fewer students on campus and our need to be fiscally responsible, the decision was made to close those post offices located within college campuses for the summer months," Katherine E. Lydon, the postmaster for Cambridge, wrote in a letter to MIT.
