Behind the Scenes at the Post Office
I was fortunate to be able to take a tour of our local Post Office in Downtown Peoria, AZ. It was a really neat experience and I wanted to share my findings in our quest to highlight the local community and some of the processes that we all take for granted.
During my visit, I was able to see carriers loading their trucks, packages being sorted & scanned, learn what the back end of the P.O. Box system looks like and see where all the undeliverable mail winds up.
Here are some interesting tidbits I took away from my experience:
- There is still a lot of manual labor involved… not nearly as much automation as I expected.
- Carrier routes are designed to have the drivers make as few right turns as possible so they can avoid turning in front of on-coming traffic.
- The mail trucks still have no air conditioning (just a fan), average about 20-25 years old and have over 100,000 miles on them.
- Employees are cross-trained and work in various roles almost every day… the front counter workers also sort before their shift… clerks unload docks, etc. It’s a real group effort.
- Carriers easily complete 10-12 hour shifts… especially during the holiday time, but that’s when “double-time” isn’t eligible due to the workload.
It’s not a pretty process, but one that is vital to our civilization… people depend upon the postal service to send & receive just about anything you could imagine. We often take this ‘system’ for granted, not realizing how it gets done 24/7 and just about 365 now. It was evident that the postal workers truly cared about what they do and take pride in their profession.
If you own or operate a local business and want to be featured in the Team Schlegel “Community Showcase”, please give Justin Schlegel a call @ 623-203-2264 to make that happen!
