Students and other members of the ISU community may find it difficult to send packages in a timely manner with the new changes that have been delivered upon the Memorial Union’s post office.

The post office used to be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., but is now closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“The changes went into effect due to a decision made by the office’s upper management,” said Ames Postmaster Larry Jordison.

“The post office is going through changes,” Jordison said. “[Upper management] looked at trends and transactions of the Memorial Union [post office] and decided what was best.”

The post office is more than $8 million in debt, and the management within is looking for ways to cut costs; shortening the Memorial Union office’s hours was one way in which it could do that.

Although the MU’s office will be decreasing its hours, the Welch Avenue post office will maintain its regular hours: Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Changes to the hours will affect some students more than others.

“That’s 15 minutes out of my day, walking back and forth to the Welch Avenue post office,” said Erich Hodges, junior in dairy science. “It doesn’t make sense why they’re decreasing hours at the busiest time of year [for sending packages]. They [the post office] say they want to support the needs of customers, but walking five blocks isn’t helpful to anyone.”

Hodges uses the post office’s services almost everyday and even has his own P.O. box. He uses it to sell old textbooks and send and receive packages from his family.

“[The Memorial Union is] the only place a student can send a priority package over 13 ounces,” Hodges said.

The change in hours has created an inconvenience for Hodges.

“I might as well just get a P.O. box with Welch [Avenue post office],” Hodges said. “The next best option is Copy Works. They have a FedEx pickup, I’ll most likely go there if I need to send a package in a timely manner.”

There has been no indication on how the post office patrons will be affected, especially during the holiday season. Time will be the only way to measure the effect of this permanent change.