Berkshire Benchmarks Releases State of the County Update

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Benchmarks data team recently released a State of the County Update for 2023. 
 
This brief report builds on the Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County Report published in May 2022 and highlights notable changes in regional indicators over the past year. The berkshirebenchmarks.org website has also been updated to reflect the most current available data. 
 
The purpose of the Benchmarks initiative and report is to highlight the region's successes and challenges.
 
The 2022 Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County report provided a comprehensive overview of our region's performance across eight sectors: Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Health, Housing, Social Environment, and Transportation.  
 
In the future, the Berkshire Benchmarks team will continue to monitor these and other indicators to aid with the regional understanding of changes in these sectors and whether the work happening throughout the region is having the intended impact. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks is a collaborative initiative managed through Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC). Our sources are publicly available data, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Community Survey, various Massachusetts data sets, and periodic surveys of Berkshire County residents. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks aims to work with the community to understand priorities and help inform the region on how we are doing and if we are improving. Berkshire Benchmarks enhances the region's access to quality data and analysis. 

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Shipping Business PostNet Opens on North Street

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

Look for the banner over the door, next to the A-Mart.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — You can now design, print, bind and ship all from the same location downtown — and pick up your mail while you're at it.

Siblings Bina and Gary Patel recently opened a PostNet location at 524 North St. The worldwide chain offers shipping, printing and mailbox services.

Gary Patel also owns the convenience store A-Mart right next door.

"PostNet is a one-stop destination for shipping and printing. You can ship your stuff with the multi-carrier, because we offer UPS, FedEx, DHL, and post office, also, and we have a printing press here," Bina Patel said. "So if you want to print something like a brochure, business cards, banners, you can print here, and we also provide the mailbox services here also, so we have a physical mailbox and virtual mailbox both here."

The printers can accommodate large banners and print logos on shirts. The store also has tape, envelopes, other stationery items, packing materials, and shredding services.

The Patels said they were looking into a shipping business and had a friend who used PostNet and liked it. They researched for two years about the business and signed a contract with PostNet in October. 

They said they wanted to their destination to provide customers everything they needed to do, noting shipping services are scarce after FedEx closed its Pittsfield location last year. They had been getting inquiries about FedEx options and UPS, which has a store in Pittsfield and one in Williamstown.

"We just went many times, around here, maybe one UPS Store, even in Berkshire County, we have the A-Mart, and we're trying to make it like one stop," Gary Patel said. "So whoever comes from the hospital, comes for lunch or whatever, and they want to make it one stop to drop a package or something, and that'll help out the community."

The store also provides competitor prices from other carriers for customers to compare.

The store is open from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, with Sunday hours currently by appointment. 

 
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