PARIS — Tom Hurd of Paris said that after he complained that the United States Postal Service forced him to move his mailbox, he was visited by a man he believed to be the postmaster of Norway, Mike Anderson, who told him he could move it back.

Hurd was initially forced to move his mailbox from in front of his house on Clover Lane to the opposite side of the road so USPS drivers wouldn’t have to make left turns for safety reasons. Hurd saw the new move as a hazard to pedestrians.

After his complaint was aired, the postal employee made a visit, which he views as too little, too late.

“He told me that he was doing a route review and that since I am on an open stretch of road with no distractions, he believed they could resume postal delivery to my subdivision with little risk,” Hurd said by email. “He regretted that they did not actually examine the route for hazards before disrupting everyone’s mail drops … but he offered that he could resume delivery if I wanted to again place my boxes where they once were.”

Melissa Lohnes, USPS spokesperson, said the Postal Service listened to its customers’ concerns.

“‘We . . . re-evaluated the relocation request of approximately a dozen mailboxes along the mail route that services Cottage Street (in Norway and Paris), Park Street, Clover Lane and Industrial Way in Paris,” she said in an email. “We determined that roughly half of the boxes we originally identified to be moved can be returned to their original location and are currently working with our customers to do so.”

Hurd said he and other residents in his subdivision had already changed their mailing addresses or rented post office boxes. Being allowed to resume using their old addresses simply adds to the confusion, he said.

“Now that everybody has (post office) boxes and the ground has frozen, it doesn’t make sense to reinstall the mailboxes,” he said by phone. “I haven’t bothered to put it back because everybody already has P.O. boxes. . . . They’ve already paid for them.”

No one in Hurd’s subdivision knows if the post office will refund the money they paid to rent their post office boxes if they want to resume using their old addresses.

“In my mind, it comes down to postal incompetence,” he said. “If the rest of the world worked that way, they’d be out of business.”

Lohnes said that any postal customers who have questions or concerns regarding relocating their mailboxes should contact Norway Postmaster Michael Anderson at 743-8341. She also confirmed changes in the hours of two local post offices.

[email protected]

New hours

The United States Postal Service announced new hours for Paris Hill and Sumner post offices, beginning Saturday, Jan. 10.

The Paris Hill post office will be open from 8 to 10 a.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Sumner post office will be open from 7 to 10 a.m. and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.