Pat McGovern, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said it is negotiating the purchase of a building for the Hamilton Heights area, but would not comment further.

One reason, says a Postal Service spokeswoman, Pat McGovern, is that so much mail is sent without an apartment number.

A. The Postal Service is indeed scaling back the number of street mailboxes in New York, according to a spokeswoman, Pat McGovern.

There are perhaps 1,000 still in use around the city, mostly in office buildings, said Pat McGovern, spokeswoman for the New York district of the Postal Service.

Nevertheless, officials at the Morgan center said, attendance was absolutely normal yesterday morning, according to Pat McGovern, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service.

The restoration, which is costing $300,000, is one of the improvement projects under way at Farley, said Pat McGovern, a Postal Service spokeswoman.

Those sites are being evaluated, said Pat McGovern, a Postal Service spokeswoman.

Despite some assistance from computers, mail carriers basically rely on the old noodle, according to Pat McGovern, a spokeswoman for the United States Postal Service.

"It was the clerk's interpretation of the domestic mail manual," said the spokeswoman, Pat McGovern.

About 400,000 letters landed at the post office last year, and more are expected this year, said Pat McGovern, a Postal Service spokeswoman.