Community Profiles - Postmasters

Community Profiles - Postmasters

Thursday, 07 June 2007

Tom Billington, Cedar Park postmaster

As a Marine, Tom Billington escorted high-ranking government officials in Washington, D.C. After completing his four-year commitment to the Marine Corps, Billington wanted to continue working for the government. “I felt the Postal Service was a great organization to have a career with. I knew the Postal Service is a respected organization that provides an important service to our country,” he said.

• Family: Wife, Robin, and sons Thomas, 14, Chase, 12 and Derek, 8.
• Contact Information: The Cedar Park Post Office customer line is 260-7585.

Q. How long have you worked in Cedar Park, and where were your previous jobs?

A. I’ve been here a year on June 24. Before that I was postmaster in Tyler for two years, and before I was a postmaster, I was a station manager in Austin. I started out my postal career as a carrier in 1988.

Q. What’s your most unusual experience working at the post office?

A. During Christmas time, it gets very busy, so an accordion player came and performed seasonal music for those waiting in the lobby.

Q. What does a postmaster’s day look like?

A. The postmaster is really an ambassador to the community in regard to postal services. I ensure the retail needs are met at the counter and am responsible for the 32 routes that we deliver. I have two supervisors who help me out: Pat Lippe and Josiah Macfoy.

Q. What’s the biggest challenge a postmaster faces?

A. The postmaster spends a great deal of time with customers. There are lots of requests I need to answer and people who have concerns about their mail delivery or a certain piece of mail. There are also administrative duties in managing up to 60 employees.

Q. How are people taking the rate increase?

A. The new increase has been pretty smooth. We did things in advance to educate the customers. Lots of people are also buying several books of the Forever stamps. Those can be purchased now for 41 cents each and then used at any time, even in the future when the rate increases.

Q. What is one of your goals or accomplishments?

A. My claim to fame is that I try to keep the lines to a maximum five-minute wait. The trick to that is using historical data to staff my windows, meaning that I look at our records of high and low volume times and days and put extra or fewer people at the windows accordingly. Also, I or my supervisors will help people prepare packages, and we take customers out of line who are just picking up a package.

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Maurice Dunn, Leander postmaster

As the son of a postal employee, Maurice Dunn said a career with the U.S. Postal Service was always an option for him. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Dunn took a postal exam composed of memory and math skills questions and was hired for his high scores. Thirty years later, Dunn has moved up the ladder to the position of postmaster for Leander, Jonestown and Lago Vista.

• Education: Degree in business and a second degree in certified public management from Texas State University.
• Family: Wife, Monica, and son, Austin, 18.
• Contact Information: 259-1965, or maurice.x.dunn@usps.gov

Q. What’s your most unusual experience working at the post office?

A. Once, when I was managing one of the smaller towns, there was an incident where one of our postal customers had grandchildren visiting from out of town, and the grandchildren came to pick up the mail. Nobody knew the grandchildren, so we weren’t sure if we should give them the customer’s mail. But then someone recognized the customer’s dog, which had followed the children to the post office. So then we knew we could hand over the mail.

Q. What does a postmaster’s day look like?

A. It’s mostly administrative work, but I’m ultimately responsible for everything that happens in this facility and in Jonestown and Lago Vista.

Q. What’s the biggest challenge a postmaster faces?

A. Managing the available resources, including staff, to meet the company’s allocated budget. You do the best you can with what you have. There are times when you have to prioritize all your tasks, but safety and customer service always come first.

Q. How are people taking the rate increase?

A. Most people understand that we move our mail by truck. They look at the price of gas and understand that we have to cover our costs. The post office is a break-even operation.

Q. What is one of your goals or accomplishments?

A. I consider being able to understand things from a customer’s perspective one of my strengths. Most people understand that even though I can’t fix everything, their concerns mean a lot to me and I’ll do what I can. I’ve been selected to be a coach for other postmasters. Right now I am on the review board for the associate supervisors. These are people trying to get into a management position, and seeing such dynamic people is encouraging.

Q. What do people need to know about the post office that they might not?

A. As I tell everyone, the U.S Postal Service is the model for the rest of the world’s postal services. There is no other postal system in the world that can do what we do as well as we do it. Nobody has as much volume or efficiency.