Wyoming Chapter
Association of Records Managers and Administrators
Chapter Meeting
April 18, 2003
U.S. Post Office, 4800 Converse Avenue, Cheyenne, WY

Members Present: Kristy Anderson, Vicci Carter, Ramona Christensen, Donna Crock, Wendy Kinkade, Vicki Seals, Rich Wilson, Tony Adams, and Deanne Widhauf

Guest Present: Margaret Maione

Speaker: Carol Rookstool, U.S. Postmaster - Carol started with the U.S. Postal Service September of 1979 as a mail handler loading and unloading mail trucks, she was the first female mail handler in Cheyenne. After loading and unloading mail trucks for a while she bid/applied for a mail carrier position. In 1981 she applied for a management position and advanced through the ranks to her current position of U.S. Post Master for the City of Cheyenne.

Wendy Kinkade introduced our tour guide and speaker, Carol Rookstool.

Topic: Tour of Converse Avenue Post Office Facilities and Operations

Carol advised that due to the heighten security, we could not tour the facility. Instead, Carol gave a presentation on the operation and equipment at the Converse Station.

The Converse Avenue Post Office was opened in July of 1995 and at this time, it generates revenue of approximately $22,000,000 per year. The operation of the post office is divided into two areas: the postal side which includes the collection of revenue and delivery of the mail and is supervised by the U.S. Postmaster; and, the plant side which involves receiving, sorting, and shipping of mail and is supervised by the plant manager. The site has approximately 300 - 350 employees working there depending on the time of the year. There are currently 53 city mail routes, nine rural routes, and five star routes (these are contracted routes.)

The Converse facility is open 24 hours a day and processes approximately 130,000 pieces of first class mail daily along with other mail. There are approximately 20 mail trucks which are loaded and unload daily at the facility. The facility has several bar code readers and sorters, and a remote bar coder, which puts a bar code on the mail that does not have one (this is usually mail that is mailed by a private individual.) The remote bar coder is operated by a satellite and processes approximately 30,000 to 40,000 pieces of mail per hour. The bar code readers and sorters process approximately 30,000 to 32,000 pieces of mail per hour. The use of e-mail by individuals has not had a major impact on the revenue of the Post Office at this time, since the bulk of the mailings are done by businesses. Each post office is tested quarterly for timeliness of delivery. This is done by mailing a piece of mail from an external site with a zip code. The delivery time is determined by the zip code. The post office must receive a score of 100% or they fail.

Carol closed the presentation by thanking us for coming.

Lunch was catered by the Pie Lady.

Submitted by

Vicci Carter