Post office moving into
North Edison pharmacy

by Brent Johnson/For The Star-Ledger
Wednesday May 27, 2009, 1:48 PM

After two decades of lobbying, Devine's Pharmacy in Edison will now do more than handle prescriptions and sell greeting cards and cosmetics.

They'll send out your mail, too.

Come September, Devine's, on Oak Tree Road, will open a satellite U.S. Post Office inside the store.

It's the first post office in North Edison, meaning residents will no longer have to fight cross-town traffic or drive out of town to mail a package.

That's what Joanne Melomo has done for the 23 years she's lived in the area. Now, she only has to walk a few hundred feet: She works in the strip mall next to Devine's.

"Nearly 23 years without a post office," Melomo said. "It's wonderful to have one now."

Edison has four other post offices. But the one at Menlo Park Mall is an 11-minute drive from North Edison. Raritan Avenue's branch is 14 minutes; Woodbridge Avenue, 16; Route 27, 17, and Kilmer Road, 18.

Residents can also drive 11 minutes to Colonia and seven minutes to South Plainfield or Metuchen.

The new Devine's branch is a Contract Postal Office, operated by staff members who are not Postal Service employees. But the branch will offer the same products and services at the same rates as regular U.S. postal facilities.

And Devine's will offer longer hours than most post offices: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

"It's a one-stop shop," said Edison Postmaster John Karp. "It's a win-win for everyone involved."

Devine's owner Robert Riedinger, who opened the pharmacy with his father and grandfather in 1977, has pushed for the post office since the late 1980s. His hope was to cut down travel time for North Edison residents.

But Postal Service officials told him their business model "is not really geared toward retail outlets." So every few years, he asked again. Recently, Edison officials helped out, speaking with the Postal Service and Congressman Frank Pallone.

"I felt it was such a solid idea that eventually a kind ear would listen to me," Riedinger said.