Apr 15, 2009 6:04 pm US/Central
Post Offices Won't Be Open Late For Tax Day
But Main Harrison Street Post Office Is Always Open 24 Hours, And Mail Collectors Will Work Late
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Protest or not, Wednesday April 15, is still the deadline for filing your taxes. CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports that e-filing has changed the way the post office does business on tax day.
Chicago post offices won't be extending their hours this tax day, but there will be mail carriers working the streets late into the night.
The Main Post Office at 433 W. Harrison St. is always open 24 hours, and will be as usual. But most other Chicago post offices close between 5 and 7 p.m., and will be open for their regular business hours Wednesday, according to U.S. Postal Service spokesman Mark Reynolds.
While several post offices used to remain open late on tax day, the Post Office has been moving away from this practice for some years, Reynolds said.
"In past years. We've actually scaled that back over time; this isn't something that just all of a sudden, it happened," Reynolds said. "We've had fewer and fewer offices that have stayed open late because we hadn't needed it."
But that doesn't mean you're out of luck if you get to the post office late. There are mail collectors who will work through the night in the city, Reynolds said.
"What we are doing in Chicago is we will have collectors on the street from late afternoon up to the midnight hour," Reynolds said.
In addition, customers may use automated postal centers where people can buy their postage with a credit or debit card rather than waiting in line at the post office, Reynolds said.
April 15th is one of those days the post office expects to be busy, but lines weren't long Wednesday afternoon.
"Right now, traffic is light," Reynolds said. "It will be very busy. This is the calm before the storm."
Reynolds predicts the storm will hit around 7 p.m. Wednesday. That's when the real tax filing procrastinators start to get a little nervous about pushing the deadline.
But no worries for the folks who beat the deadline by hours.
Nancy Braziel had a smile on her face.
"Yes, I am getting a refund. A small refund, but a refund," Braziel said. "Every little bit helps."
Brett Conway, on the other hand, has to pay up.
"I don't like it but I don't mind," Conway said. "It's your civic duty."
Reynolds said while Americans' trend toward filing taxes online has cut down on the number of people using the post office, he also said one has to be "realistic."
"Still, at the last minute, we do expect upwards of 20 million tax returns today nationwide, so obviously, there's a demand for it," Reynolds said. "But we're able to meet that demand within our regular capacity."
CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman and Adam Harrington of cbs2chicago.com contributed to this report.
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