Addressing complaints that the town's post offices are open too few hours, Shanghai Postal Bureau is extending the daily schedules of sub-bureaus and branches. And one or two round-the-clock mail centers will be opened in as-yet-undecided locations in the busiest commercial areas, said officials.

"We decided to prolong the service hours in both urban and rural areas for the convenience of our customers," said Sheng Dimin, a bureau spokesman.

Most city post offices now are open eight hours a day, 365 days a year. Service hours are prolonged temporarily during some holidays, Spring Festival, for example.

Even so, long lines occur at some offices especially around the beginning of the month when people get paid, and complaints have been mounting from some of the busiest venues, including Nanjing and Huaihai roads, that they weren't open late enough.

Under the new plan, downtown sub-bureaus, which cater to larger commercial customers, will be open 12 hours a day, and branch offices, 10 hours a day.

Sub-bureaus in rural areas will remain in service at least 10 hours daily and the branches, eight hours.

Post offices near train and long-distance bus stations, docks and airports will be in business 14 hours a day.

"We will also require postal services in hotels, shopping centers, office buildings and airport lounges to work as long as those places do," said Sheng.

The busier commercial areas such as Sichuan and Huaihai roads, will be in service from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

(Beijingnews.com.cn 06/26/2001)