Airport Post offices handle double mail

Postal officer Sandra Rankin and philatelic assistant
Gene Webb place mail in the SMB boxes

Friday,  February 4, 2005

Since the Seven Mile Beach (SMB) Post Office was severely damaged and closed due to Hurricane Ivan, the Airport Post office has been handling double the mail.

Eight postal officers from SMB attend 2,268 mailboxes that have been set up for SMB use in the warehouse as well as manage the special SMB counter. These officers work alongside the 30 APO staffers who sort incoming and outgoing mail for all districts and international destinations, in addition to handling registered mail and parcels.

SMB customers continue to collect mail at the SMB window in the APO and this has led to some frustration for customers. “Requesting mail over the counter instead of checking a private box is not what SMB customers are used to, but we ask for their understanding at this time” said Deputy Postmaster, Anthony Williams. 

Proof of ID is still required to collect SMB mail and those without are asked to sign name, date and box number into a logbook.

“There are many special requests for the SMB boxes such as when a condo manager is asked to collect mail for owners. Logging the mail collections prevents fraud,” Mr Williams said.

SMB Officers rotate duties during the day including sorting mail into boxes and serving the mail request desk. Mr. Williams explained that the new arrangement means that SMB officers receive mail directly from the APO sorters; that mail immediately goes into the SMB boxes, resulting in quicker service. 

Sharing a workplace has not hampered the overall performance of the Postal Service; statistics show a 30 percent increase in 2004 over the previous year for local and foreign mail, including registered letters and parcels. As expected there was a dramatic fall in postal usage in September 2004 in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ivan but there was a healthy resurgence in December 2004.

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