DEAR PROBE

QI was astounded to see that the El Centro Post Office would resort to only using what appeared to be pieces of clear shower curtains in place of Plexiglas for protection.

I applaud how many grocery stores have put Plexiglas in front of all of their registers.

The “shower curtain” moves back and forth due to the air conditioner which defeats the purpose of protecting staff as well as customers.

Is their funding that low? — Safety Conscious El Centro

AEl Centro Postmaster Sergio Acevedo responded that while is it true the El Centro Post Office uses shower curtains to better protect employees and customers, it makes much more sense than using Plexiglas or anything like that for the type of work the post office employees do. Acevedo said the post office receives a lot of larger packages, so having a small opening or slot would be impractical. It’s easier to maneuver around a shower curtain to hand a package to a customer.

“We can’t be like a bank,” he said. “It would be less convenient to move packages around.”

He agreed that the Plexiglas does look nicer, but in this instance, it just would not work as well.

“Since this (pandemic) we have seen more packages being mailed,” he said.

Acevedo said other post offices may choose to use Plexiglas or some other barrier, but that is their own decision.

He said the expense of Plexiglas did not have anything to with deciding to use shower curtains over Plexiglas during the pandemic.