Monday, August 15, 2011

Social Security Office now Closing at 3:30 pm Daily

This is the press release I received from Social Security:
Congressional Budget Cuts Force Reduced Public Hours--
Effective today, August 15, 2011, the Iselin Social Security office will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. – a reduction of 30 minutes each weekday.

While agency employees will continue to work their regular hours, this shorter public window will allow them to complete face-to-face service with the visiting public without incurring the cost of overtime. Congress provided Social Security with nearly $1 billion less than the President requested for the budget this fiscal year, which makes it impossible for the agency to provide the amount of overtime needed to handle service to the public as we have in the past.

Most Social Security services do not require a visit to an office. For example, anyone wishing to apply for benefits, sign up for direct deposit, replace a Medicare card, obtain a proof of income letter or inform us of a change of address or telephone number may do so at www.socialsecurity.gov or by dialing our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.

I get the idea. My thought is that I wish they would close completely one day a week, and stay open late one night a week. Couldn't that also save 2.5 hours? How much money is really being saved here?

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