Mechanicsville postal workers cover a lot of distance to move mail

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photo by Paul C. Leibe Millie Hall is one of more than a dozen postal clerks at the Mechanicsville post office who start their days sorting incoming mail before delivery to the nearly 8,000 homes and businesses in the 20659 ZIP code area E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Human ashes and messages in bottles are also known to appear every so often.

‘‘We pretty much mail everything, as long as it’s not dangerous,” said Fred Nelson, the postmaster for Mechanicsville.

It comes as no surprise to the carriers and clerks who keep the Mechanicsville post office going, though, covering the largest geographical area for one post office in Southern Maryland, according to Nelson.

‘‘At first I didn’t believe it myself, the area we cover,” Nelson said. ‘‘It just went on and on and on.”

According to Nelson, that area includes 14 different routes and serves 7,350 homes and 900 post office boxes.

‘‘We cover more area than any other county in Southern Maryland per square mile,” he said. ‘‘We go from river to river.”

The Mechanicsville office’s boundaries go from the Patuxent to Wicomico river, stretch north into Charlotte Hall and Golden Beach, and cut off at South Sandgates Road on the southern end. The office also serves about 100 homes in southern Charles County.

Nelson said the area is continuing to expand though, and he expects to add at least three more routes within the next five years because of impending subdivisions and increasing populations.

Delivering to the more than 500 addresses per route — each carrier in the office is delivering for more than 500 families — is not an easy task because carriers themselves are handling close to 2,500 pieces of mail a day, Nelson said.

Sometimes the large routes covered by the Mechanicsville office can be tedious, Nelson said, especially in adverse weather conditions. According to Nelson, carriers drive an average of 538 miles collectively as they complete the 14 routes. Most of the carriers have routes that average about 46 miles a day.

‘‘When you got snow on the road it’s a long way,” Nelson said. ‘‘We do it all here. We go over the river, through the woods and down the hills.”

Carriers go out in ‘‘rain, sleet or snow,” said Monty Carrico, a 13-year carrier whose father, Donald, used to be the postmaster for Mechanicsville.

Carrico remembers when the current Mechanicsville office was built in 1967, and has many memories of visiting his father at work.

‘‘It was always a happy atmosphere,” he said. ‘‘I was familiar with it.”

That impression and the thought of one day following in his father’s footsteps were always in the back of his mind, he said.

Working for the U.S. Postal Service is a family affair for Carrico, whose mother is a retired clerk at the La Plata post office. Also, he has two brothers who work as technicians at the main processing plant in Capitol Heights.

Though Carrico said being a carrier is the easiest job he has ever had physically, it can be hard mentally.

‘‘Mentally it’s way more difficult,” he said. ‘‘There’s a lot of memorization, a lot of common sense.”

Millie Hall is another Mechanicsville carrier, working for more than 20 years for the postal service.

She began her career in the postal business after being encouraged by her sister to take the clerk’s test being offered at the time. The test measures accuracy and speed, two important elements to a carrier’s job.

‘‘First you have to get accuracy and then speed,” she said, adding that she has no regrets as to her chosen career. ‘‘I’m very happy.”

Carrier John Wood, whose route covers the Country Lakes subdivision, has been working for the postal service for more than 20 years, and plans on going at least another 20 before he retires.

Wood started as a carrier when he was 19, after a neighbor suggested he take the clerk’s test.

A day in the life of a carrier starts early, beginning with an 8 a.m. reporting time where carriers sort mail for their routes and pack it in tubs to keep it orderly while being delivered.

Wood said he spends about three hours sorting mail in the morning, about 31Ú2 hours delivering mail on his route, and about another hour in the afternoon sorting more mail.

Wood has seen numerous changes to the postal service over his 20 years, including an increase of about 2,000 deliveries and the implementation of automated machines that sort mail in delivery order — a machine that has cut carrier sorting time in half.

Nelson said postal workers normally take about eight hours a day to sort and complete their routes, and aim to have all mail delivered no later than 4 p.m.

‘‘We get these carriers out and back in a decent time. Our goal is to get the mail out, and the earlier the better,” Nelson said, adding that postal customers like knowing when their mail will arrive each day. ‘‘Consistency is very important, getting mail out at the same time every day.”

‘‘Postal workers are definitely dedicated, inside and outside,” Wood said. ‘‘Some days you don’t feel like it, but you go and do it anyway.”

Although several carriers agree that most customers are hospitable and non-confrontational, Nelson said he does have to settle a missed delivery complaint occasionally. To do that, he likes to show the customer the workings of the post office so they can gain a better appreciation for what has to happen initially for them to get their mail.

‘‘People just don’t understand it,” he said. ‘‘...People just don’t know what it takes at this one point.”

And although Nelson said postal workers enjoy the holidays they have off from work, it doesn’t make things easier afterward.

‘‘We get a holiday and we pay the price the following day,” Nelson said.‘‘Even on our days off, mail is being moved,” Carrico said.

‘‘Somebody is always working,” said Jackie MacBryde, who has been a carrier for 17 years.

E-mail Meagan Boswell at mboswell@somdnews.com.