{"id":402469,"date":"2026-07-17T18:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402469\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T18:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:02:12","slug":"chronic-copper-thefts-leave-center-post-office-sweltering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402469\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronic copper thefts leave Center Post Office sweltering"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The Centre Branch Post Office located on El Camino Avenue in Sacramento on Thursday, July 16, 2026.<\/p>\n

LIBBY SIMPSON<\/p>\n

libby.simpson@sacbee.com<\/p>\n

More than six weeks after copper thieves stole its air-conditioning units, the Centre Branch Post Office in Arden Arcade\u2019s Country Club neighborhood remains without central air conditioning, leaving employees and customers to endure the summer heat.<\/p>\n

Three employees at the postal branch at 3545 El Camino Ave. \u2014 tucked away between a hardware store, bowling alley and the vacant Sam\u2019s Hof Brau near Watt Avenue \u2014 have been working without central air conditioning since May 25 after thieves stole the valuable metal used on the office\u2019s exterior air-conditioning units on three occasions.<\/p>\n

Employees were provided portable air-conditioning units for their desks after the thefts while the U.S. Postal Service sought a permanent, theft-resistant replacement and reviewed contractor bids, a Postal Service spokesperson said in an email Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"A A hole cut in the fence and remaining pieces of a dismembered air conditioning unit sit behind the Centre Branch Post Office in Arden Arcade on Thursday, July 16, 2026. The post office has been a target of copper wire theft three times since Memorial Day, according to the Sacramento Postmasters Office. LIBBY SIMPSON libby.simpson@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

But the lack of central air-conditioning has still left the office sweltering as temperatures climbed toward triple digits. According to a customer complaint shared with The Sacramento Bee, temperatures inside the office reached about 90 degrees Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Save for portable desk-units, no other AC units \u2014 including in the backroom of the office and the customer service area \u2014 were available, Bee reporters confirmed during a Thursday visit.<\/p>\n

According to the state Department of Industrial Relations<\/a>, employers must provide water, rest, training, cool-down areas and other cooling measures when indoor temperatures exceed 82 degrees.<\/p>\n

\"A A portable air conditioning unit sits on a clerk’s desk at the Centre Branch Post Office on El Camino Avenue in Sacramento on July 16, 2026. LIBBY SIMPSON libby.simpson@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Bryan Embry, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 66, said employers are required to keep employees informed of reported safety hazards and the steps being taken to address them under department policy. However, he said many employees fear retaliation and may be reluctant to report concerns to supervisors.<\/p>\n

Two clerks working at the office Thursday declined to speak on the record.<\/p>\n

A U.S. Postal Service spokesperson said the agency did not yet have a timeline for installing a new unit but that management continued to monitor conditions at the office.<\/p>\n

According to Embry, the Centre Station Post Office is remotely managed, with supervisors typically stationed at the larger Arden Branch a mile and a half away. No supervisors were present Thursday afternoon when Bee reporters visited.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safety and well-being of our employees is our top priority. We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers,\u201d a U.S. Postal Service spokesperson said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s Office said it had not received any theft reports from the office in the last six months but that the area has experienced ongoing issues with transient thefts in the area ringed by shopping centers. A U.S. Postal Service spokesperson confirmed each theft was reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the agency\u2019s law enforcement arm.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Reeti Malhotra<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Reeti Malhotra is a 2026 summer reporting intern for The Sacramento Bee covering breaking news. She is a junior at Yale University, where she works as a city beat reporter and personal essay staff writer for the Yale Daily News.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Centre Branch Post Office located on El Camino Avenue in Sacramento on Thursday, July 16, 2026. LIBBY…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-402469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}