By Richard Caines

SALISBURY — The Salisbury Post Office could be the blueprint for a recently announced United States Postal Service initiative.

The "Dedicated to the Long Haul" initiative honors postal employees who have held the same position for more than 25 years. USPS officials said the initiative offers a unique opportunity to honor the dedication and hard work of its long-serving associates.

Salisbury has 21 team members who have met the goal. Those include eight city carriers, one rural carrier, one vehicle maintenance, three maintenance, six clerks and two supervisors.

The staff said they have experienced many changes in the postal service over those 25 years, namely technological advances and differences in the mail they deliver. But they are still committed to the craft. After all, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is a phrase long associated with the American postal worker.

Mark Wahl, USPS strategic communications specialist, said that the longevity of the Salisbury team is centered around consistency and dedication, like many of the post offices across the country.

“The Salisbury Post Office team directly supports the USPS Delivering for America 10-year plan by reinforcing the role of long-serving employees as key ambassadors in the community,” Wahl said. “One key initiative of the DFA is investing in our employees to enhance community outreach and support local businesses and leveraging the dedication of long-tenured employees to bolster the USPS’s commitment to customer service and community engagement.”

City carrier Dana James, who will celebrate his 30th anniversary with the postal service on Aug. 6, is responsible for downtown Salisbury. James’ popularity recently resulted in a cookie named after him by the E. Market Street business Sugar Rush by Theresa.

James said he does not deliver to downtown businesses anymore, because they are all friends now. As for the cookie, James said the shop owner liked big chocolate chip cookies, but they weren’t selling.

“She made this butter crème filling, and I would go back in her kitchen and put it on there,” James said. “She thought that was the weirdest thing. She was like, ‘Who would buy that?’ I said, everybody.’”

Sugar Rush By Theresa is just one of the 600 “friends” that James said he gets to see on his daily mail route.

“He is kind of like the face of the post office to those downtown,” Salisbury Postmaster Teri Ward said.

Rural carrier Joy Mitchell, who has been with the postal service for 28 years, said the best part of her career is simply delivering the mail. She said she serves about 627 homes near Eden.

“I’ve got almost 60 miles on my route,” Mitchell said. “I start at 9:30 a.m. and I’m usually done around 4:30 p.m. The view is different every day. You know, deer are out there. You’re just out there delivering at your own pace.”

Mitchell said there have been many changes at the postal office since she came aboard in 1996. She is now aided by the help of a Mercedes van along with air conditioning and a radio. Before, she delivered out of her car.

Virginia Case, who started her career in 1998, said her key to success is the pride she has in working for the USPS and serving the community as a city carrier.

“Even as seasoned carriers, when it’s extremely hot or extremely cold, it’s still a challenge, but we do it for our customers,” Case said.

Some of the challenges seasoned carriers said they face in doing their routes are health issues many customers do not see. City carrier Brooks Hall, who started in 1996, said many of his teammates have had surgeries on their hips, shoulders, backs and feet.

Hall is now on a riding route, but when he first started, he would walk 10-12 miles a day on his daily route.

“I’ve made a good living, I’ve put two kids through college,” Hall said. “I could retire now, I’m 57, but I want to work until I’m 60 at least.”

Hall said the new vans help because before, they rode in square trucks with “little fans that blew hot air on you.”

Hall said there have been many changes in the types of mail they deliver, after all, people these days pay their bills online. Everything is starting to go paperless.

“We are more of a parcel company nowadays,” Hall said. “The days of trays of letters and trays of magazines, that’s gone. Yesterday I had 122 parcels. When I first got hired, I might have had 20.”

Another upgrade to the Salisbury Post Office is through new technology. The team is using a small delivery unit sorter, or SDUS, to effectively get mail to customers.

Ward said staff used to sort mail by mail but now they can simply feed the machine by hand.

“The machine now will do 3,000 parcels an hour,” Ward said. So, where our goal used to be 270 parcels an hour, now we are at 3,000. Last week we finished our SDUS as number four in the entire nation against every post office. Our staff there, I think, are unbelievably great.”

Ward said every team member, including those who have been there 25 years or more, had to come in and start from the bottom until they reached seniority.

“They work really hard,” Ward said. “And in a lot of hot weather, rain, freezing cold or snow. I’m appreciative of all of them for sure. Because if it wasn’t for them, the folks in the community would not get the things they need every day.”

Employees with 25 years of service or more include Joe Sullivan, Dana James, Amy Williams, Pete Mariner, Brooks Hall, Virginia Case, Bessie O’Brien, Eric McGiffin, Buddy Mills, Julie McKenney, Valarie Beach, Kim White, Shirley Burton, Cybill Burton, Lykesha Mapp, Sean Seldon, Diane McKenney, Scott West, Joy Mitchell, Maria White and Debbie Gattis.

Reach Managing Editor Richard Caines at rcaines@iniusa.org.