The North Main Street post office was a sweltering place for the employees and the many people trying to do business there on Monday.

The air-conditioning in the building was broken, U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Freda Sauter said. Around 1:30 p.m., the doors to the building had been propped open and the lights turned off in an attempt to bring the temperature down, but clerks were continuing to serve a steady stream of customers.

Sauter did not say what caused the outage or when it happened.

“The Postal Service values the health and safety of all its employees and routinely provides training, breaks, water and assistance to our employees during the hotter temperatures,” Sauter wrote in an email. “We are monitoring the situation very closely and anticipate a swift resolution.”

Sauter said facilities personnel had been called to repair the air-conditioning and, in the meantime, they were trying to secure fans to put in the office.