Foul odor forces post office outdoors

OAKLYN, NJ - June 25, 2008 (WPVI) -- It may not be the biggest or best facility, but this mobile post office set up outside the Oaklyn Post Office was getting the job done today.

Postal customers are getting used to doing business at the walk-up window. This one just happens to be at a truck parked outside the Oaklyn facility. It saved people the trip to the Audubon facility about a mile away.

"When I went there today, they told me there was a mobile unit here, so I came here," Jennifer O'Leary of Collingswood said.

Gary Williford of Willingboro, New Jersey said, "They didn't have a scale for the package I had, so we had to guesstimate it."

The Oaklyn Post Office has been closed since a nasty odor permeated the building on Friday. The East Bettlewood Avenue building is leased by the postal service.

Today, roofers checked a newly installed roof for any leaks, while environmental and postal inspectors looked at the building's plumbing and ventilation systems.,/P.

Postal workers may be a bit cramped, but seem to be appreciate the precautions being taken until the cause can be sniffed out.

"It wasn't very pleasant to work in the building," said one unidentified postal worker. "This unit is really nice. They're looking out for our health concerns. We don't know what's in the building."

Postal clerk Jacek Skryzalin says, "These things happen in older buildings, but we have to give service to our customers here in Oaklyn, and this is what we're offering the."

A spokesman for the postal service said they hope to know by tomorrow what the cause of the odor is.

As cute as this mobile post office is, he says this is really a very short term solution and if the problem isn't solved soon, then customers will probably be told to go back to the Audubon Post Office.

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local/state, cathy gandolfo

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