The U.S. Postal Service has reopened its office in Etna after a two-year closure.
The Etna post office closed in July 2021 because of structural issues. Even with the completed construction of a new facility in September 2022, postal operations didn’t resume in the small Penobscot County town, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Jared Golden.
Golden said the prolonged closure created “life-threatening circumstances” for Mainers who rely on the Postal Service to get mail-order medications in a timely fashion.
“Since the founding of our country, the Postal Service has committed to serving every community — no matter how rural,” Golden said in a Friday statement. “Mainers count on that promise for everything from paying bills to receiving medications, which makes this reopening so vital and overdue. I’m glad residents of Etna are finally getting their mail again.”
Other small Maine towns have faced similar prolonged closures with no sense of when their post offices will reopen. The West Paris post office has been closed for nearly two years, Golden noted in a September 2023 letter to Postmaster General Louis Dejoy. It’s unclear when the West Paris office will reopen.
After the Dec. 18 wind storm that caused widespread flooding throughout western Maine, the post office in Mexico has been closed because of storm damage, and it’s unclear when it will reopen.
“While we are very pleased that the Postal Service is re-opening the Etna Post Office, it shouldn’t go without notice that this office, along with other small offices in Maine was closed for much longer than necessary,” said Scott Adams, the general president of the Portland Maine Area Local, American Postal Workers Union.
