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Rush is on

Holiday season shines light on workers

A TV news crew interviews Larry Wagener, senior plant manager at the North Texas Processing and Distribution Center, last week.

Postal Service employees are giving the news media a behind-the-scenes look at this year’s busy holiday season.

“We call this our Super Bowl,” Michael Behrend, acting manager for the Des Moines, IA, Network Distribution Center, told KCCI, the local CBS station, during a recent tour of the plant.

The facility has more than 500 employees, all working “to make sure packages get to the right place at the right time,” he said.

Employees at the Lexington, KY, Processing and Distribution Center are also focused on serving customers, according to a report on WKYT, another CBS station.

“We promise to have the customer their mail within a certain amount of time, so we have everything here in house to make that happen,” Doug Caswell, the plant manager, told the station. “We have our own maintenance in house to keep the machines running and we have a set schedule when we get these things done.”

Meanwhile, KTVT, the Dallas CBS station, reported the North Texas Processing and Distribution Center has moved about 14 million First-Class Mail pieces and 10 million packages during the past two weeks.

“We’re having a great year,” Larry Wagener, the senior plant manager, said.

Other employees who’ve appeared in the press this season include Steve Sullenberger, a Cleveland letter carrier who was profiled by WKYC, an NBC station; Columbia, MO, Postmaster Bart Green, who described his office’s efforts to deliver holiday mail and packages despite inclement weather, in a story that aired on CBS station KRCG; St. Augustine, FL, Postmaster Ed Miller, who was the subject of an article in The St. Augustine Record; and Bethlehem, MD, Postmaster Kerri Brandow, who was interviewed by Bay Living magazine about customers seeking a Bethlehem postmark for their holiday mail.

Despite the avalanche of holiday mail and packages, postal workers look forward to peak season all year, according to Deshon Scott-Hopwood, senior plant manager at the Richmond, VA, Processing and Distribution Center

“We’ve been doing this for over 200 years,” Scott-Hopwood told WRIC, an ABC station. “It is our bread and butter, and employees love trying to get the mail home this time of year. … It’s kind of great to be that Santa Claus this time of year for everyone.”

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