Gulf Atlantic welcomes Dolores Seuwin

 

Since beginning her postal career, Dolores Seuwin has always cherished the opportunity to accept positions with increasing levels of responsibilities to broaden her knowledge of the Postal Service and to improve the quality of service provided to our customers.  When offered a detail assignment to Jacksonville FL, the “River City”, as Manager, Customer Service Operation, Ms. Seuwin wholeheartedly accepted.  Ms. Seuwin hails from the Suncoast District as Manager, Customer Services in Tampa, FL.
 

JAX Lake Forest Letter Carrier Frederick Sapp receives the Million Mile Award

L-R:  Lake Forest Letter Carrier Frederick Sapp, Postmaster Debra Gornik

NALC Branch 53 President Bob Henning and Postmaster Jacksonville Debra Gornik honored Lake Forest Station Letter Carrier Frederick Sapp with his Million Mile Award front of his co-workers.  “Congratulations to Carrier Sapp for 30 years of Safe Driving.  He’s taking care of himself, his customers, and the company by being a safe professional driver!” said Postmaster Gornik.  Lake Forest A/Manager C/S Toni Jackson said she was so excited about his award because he’s such a great employee and person, he cares about people. 

L-R:  NALC President Bob Henning, Letter Carrier Frederick Sapp, Postmaster Debra Gornik

Good News - Food Drive - JAX Kessler Creative

PHOTO – L-R:  Kessler employee Dina Kessler, Jax Mandarin Station Supervisor (A)
Donovan Wright & Kessler employee Charles Flantroy,.

Jacksonville Postmaster and Postal PCC Co-Chair, Debbie Gornik, invited the Jacksonville business community to extend themselves for the 2014 Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive by serving as a food donation drop site for their employees.  “I thought it would be an excellent idea to provide an alternate site for food donations in addition to leaving food at resident’s mail boxes.  In some cases, it would encourage individuals to donate more food; at work and at home,”  stated Gornik.  “There is such a tremendous need to help fill the void of basic food staples for so many households in our communities.”

Well,  Kessler Creative volunteered for the challenge.  Owners Keith and Dina Kessler made the decision to support giving back to the community by serving as a drop site for their employees’ non-perishable food donations.  A USPS container was provided and the Kessler employee team did an outstanding job filling up the container with 100 lbs. of food.  “We appreciate the support of Kessler Creative and value their participation in this partnership,” said Gornik.

Good News - Northeast FL PCC's 9th Annual Golf Tournament

Team Strategy – L-R:  Manager Post Office Operations (3) Ken Brantley, retired GFA District Finance Manager Paul Apolinario, Manager Post Office Operations (5) Keith Pierle, and Manager Post Office Operations (2) Ron Jarrell.

With over 90 golfers, the Northeast Florida Postal Customer Council (PCC) held its 9th Annual Richard J. McKillop Memorial Golf Tournament at St. John’s Golf & Country Club in St. Augustine, FL.  This annual event is sponsored by the NE FL PCC in honored of the third longest serving Jacksonville postmaster, Richard J. McKillop.

A slight rain drizzle kept the participants cool as they maneuvered the golf course.  PCC Industry Co-Chair Dan Lawlor, along with other board members, coordinated a truly awesome and grand event with great networking opportunities for the attendees.  “What was so exciting about this year’s tournament was the surprise visit of Spiderman in recognition of the Postal Service’s Spiderman promotion,” stated Jacksonville Postmaster Debbie Gornik.  “Spiderman was the star of the event.”   GFA District Retail Manager Robin Lang escorted Spiderman to pose for photos with the golfers and visitors alike.  It was never determined if this was the real Spiderman or an imposter because this Spiderman genuinely had the authentic poses and went so far as to cling to a golf cart.  Voila!  Many of the district leadership team and other postal employees joined the many participants from the business community to make this a successful event.

Spiderman w/volunteers – L-R:  Business Service Network Representative Rachelle Gilliard, Business Service Network Representative Karen Bridger, District Retail Manager Robin Lang, Spiderman, Customer Relations Coordinator (A) Dee Carter, PCC Treasurer/Executive Board Member  Becky Frank, and PCC Board Member Muriel Bremer.

JAX Lake Shore’s “Fantastic Four”

From left to right: Debbie Gornik, Postmaster, Richard Meyers , Leonard Graham ,
Ralph Cook, Pat West, and Charlotte Cutlip, Manager CS.

With an accumulation of 11,000 hours of sick leave and 148 years of service between them, Lake Shore's Fantastic Four has earned well-deserved accolades and recognition for maintaining outstanding excellent sick leave records.  "These employees have demonstrated their dedication to the United States Postal Service by providing continuous excellent service to our customers with remarkable commitment.  It is rewarding to recognize each of one them for their exceptional sick leave performance, " stated Jacksonville Postmaster Debbie Gornik.

Their respective sick leave hours and years of service are:  City Letter Carrier Ralph Cook - 33 yrs, 3000 sick leave hrs; City Letter Carrier Richard Meyers - 37 yrs, 2000 sick leave hrs; Distribution Clerk Angela "Pat" West - 37 yrs, 2500 sick leave hrs; and City Letter Carrier Leonard Graham, 41 yrs, 3500 sick leave hrs.  Kudos to the "Fantastic Four."

Savannah’s Oglethorpe Station Passport Fair

Seated- Taquara Johnson (PSE), Kimberly Lloyd-Scriven (204B), Patricia Anderson (SCS);
standing- Jacqueline Berger (SSDA), Harry Lemon (PSE)

Savannah Georgia, Oglethorpe Station - The temperature on the outside was in the low 70s and sunny, but on the inside it was sizzling hot during a recent passport fair.  The Saturday fair, which was held right after normal window hours, generated $3,150 in just two hours. The SSAs processed 96 regular passports and 22 renewal passports, generating $2,400. They also collected an additional $750 in passport photo fees to add to the grand total. 

“It was a golden opportunity to serve our customers and the employees did an excellent job,” said Savannah Postmaster Denise Holguin.

Seated – Taquara Johnson (PSE), Kimberly Lloyd-Scriven (204B), Fay Overton-Lucas (SSDA);
standing – Jacqueline Berger (SSDA), Harry Lemon (PSE)

Taquara Johnson (PSE), Harry Lemon (PSE)

Inverness FL Post Office appreciates Rural Carrier

The Inverness, Florida Post Office recently held a surprise Rural Carrier Associate (RCA) Appreciation Day.  Postmaster Kim Chandler suggested to the regular carriers that she wanted to recognize the RCAs in our office because of their hard work and dedication to do whatever it takes to get the routes covered every day.

When emergencies arise, this often times means that RCAs are moved to routes that they are totally unfamiliar with and yet, they willingly work together to get all the routes cased and delivered. 

In our office of 18 rural routes, we have 11 RCAs who cover all the routes.  The regular carriers all pitched in to provide red and blue goody bags for each RCA filled with cookies, crackers, juice, candy, a blueberry muffin and a little gift - all tied up with red, white and blue ribbon.  Each RCA received their own personalized "Thank You - We Appreciate You" card signed by all the regular carriers.

At a short meeting on Saturday April 12th, the regulars were able to express to the subs how thankful we are for them covering us on our usual days off, our vacation and sick days - and even those early morning wakeup calls at the last minute.  We told them we appreciate their willingness to cover a route that they’re not familiar with, even if they do so begrudgingly - we remember,  cause we were subs once too.  The regulars also appreciate their subs for putting up with the our little “quirks” and the way we like our cases — how we keep our calendars - how we like our boxholders cased (or not) — we know we’re quirky and we appreciate them for putting up with us too.

A group picture was taken and we have it hanging on our wall as a reminder… THE INVERNESS POST OFFICE LOVES AND APPRECIATES OUR RCAs and all they do!

Yulee FL and Marianna Post Offices have perfect RCE scores

The Retail Customer Experience (RCE) process gives the Postal Service an objective view of how well we are serving our customers.

Take a look at top performers in the Gulf Atlantic District from Yulee FL with 20 perfect scores and Marianna FL with 10 perfect scores.

"RCE is used as a real-time snapshot of customer interaction.  It is not just about the score," said GFA Marketing Manager Lucious Sumlar.  "However, we have some outstanding achievement throughout our district."

The attributes measure in the Mystery Shopper program should become so commonplace to every day performance that if the program were to end tomorrow, it would not changed the customer's retail experience in any way.

Mystery shoppers record how long they spent in line, how the retail unit looked, how courteous the retail associates were ,and other details about their visit.
 

Jacksonville Postmaster Debra Gornik honored these Yulee FL employees: Contract Cleaner Karen Jenkins, Sales & Service Associates Bridgett Wagers, Joyce Powell, and Brenda Bradley, and  Postmaster Charles Prince, and Marketing Manager Lucious Sumlar.

Celebrating Marianna FL's 10 straight perfect RCE scores are (left to right); Marketing Manager Lucious Sumlar, Retail Specialist Lauren Leach, Clerk Debbie Calloway, Marianna Postmaster Randy Merritt, Clerk Amanda Hasty, Clerk Cerita Land (holding plaque), Supervisor Customer Service Sherry Raper, Manager Post Office Operations Todd Smith and Clerk Milinda Harrelson.

Tallahassee SSA publishes children's book

During a recent visit to the Lake Jackson Station in Tallahassee, Florida, Consumer and Industry Contact Manager Tony Joy was made aware of a new author on staff.

Sales and Service Associate Carrietta Spraggins wrote a children’s book recently published called “The Food Ate My Shirt.” Many of her co-workers have purchased it.  

Manager of Customer Services Tammy Hearn said, “We are all very proud of her and wish her much success.” 

The book is available at Amazon.com.

Jacksonville employees honored for service

Jacksonville - Pottsburg

Manager Customer Services Terry Atkinson (left) is congratulated for 40 years of service by Jacksonville Postmaster Debra Gornik.

 
Jacksonville

Clerk Gail Mills is honored for 30 years of service by Jacksonville APWU President Doris Orr-Richardson (left) and Jacksonville Postmaster Debra Gornik.

Sales and Service Associate Brenda Bradley is honored for 25 years of service by Jacksonville Postmaster Debra Gornik (left) and Yulee FL Postmaster Charles Prince.

Gainesville FL, Hinesville GA new Postmasters named

Matt Connelly has been named Postmaster of the Gainesville FL Post Office.
           
In his new position, Matt will oversee all operations for the Gainesville Post Office which includes four stations, 130 routes, 240 employees and 91,664 deliveries. 

Matt is leaving the position of Operations Specialist, HQ Field Performance Group East in Pittsburgh, PA which he has held for more than three years. 

He has more than 11 years of postal experience and has worked in the Western Pennsylvania District and  Postal Headquarters in Washington DC .

Throughout his postal career, he’s held various positions with increasing levels of responsibility, including City Carrier; Supervisor, Customer Service; Manager, Customer Service; and Operations Specialist, Headquarters. 

 Additionally, Matt has worked on several key assignments while at Headquarters.  Matt has  a degree in Marketing from the University of Pittsburgh.

Vanessa Bush (right), a 26-year Postal veteran, was recently promoted to  Postmaster of Hinesville Ga  by Acting Manager of Postal Operations Damita Gaskins.  Bush previous held assignments as Postmaster of Kingsland GA and Townsend GA, Officer In Charge Ludowici GA, and supervisor,  Brunswick Post Office.

Florida Butterflies travel by Priority Mail

Postmasters Deborah Adkins from Melrose FL and Steven Marcus from Keystone Heights FL partnered to represent the USPS at the 2nd Annual Greathouse Butterfly Farm Festival recently held in Earleton, FL.

"We thought this was a great opportunity to showcase the Postal Service's awesome products and special services to the public while also projecting a positive image of community participation," stated Adkins.

More than 80 vendors participated in this event.  The Greathouse Butterfly Farm specializes in raising and shipping worldwide 45-plus species of butterflies native to Florida.  The process includes putting the butterflies to sleep prior to shipping.

"Being a native of this area, I am a lover of butterflies and enjoyed the festival.  An additional bonus was seeing Postal representation at this event," said Wendy Fuller, EEO ADR Specialist.

From left to right: Isaiah Fuller (son of Emory & EEO ADR Specialist Wendy Fuller) visits with Melrose FL Postmaster Deborah Adkins, and  Keystone Heights FL Postmaster Steven Marcus  at the Greathouse Butterfly Festival in Earleton FL.

Orange Park FL Post Office welcomes Girl Scouts

Acting Station Manager Amy Escobar at the Ridgewood Post Office  in Orange Park, FL., was excited when the local Girl Scout (Blue Birds) called and requested a field trip to the Post Office.

The Troop Leaders and parents recently escorted a motivated and well-mannered group of young girls to the Ridgewood PO.

They were able to buy stamps, mail postcards, observe carriers casing mail, and find their own addresses on the carrier case. 

Amy commented, “ We also reserved an LLV for the group to examine . I think we have some future Postal workers among this group”.

Florida Post Offices show consistent customer service success

The Retail Customer Experience (RCE) process gives the Postal Service an objective view of how well we are serving our customers.

Taking a look at the top performers in the Gulf Atlantic District shows some very impressive results.

Callahan-Hillard FL is tied for the fourth best RCE scores in the nation with 33 straight perfect scores in a row.

Left to right: Acting District Manager Mary Sullivan, Sales and Service Associate Phyllis Silcox, Callahan Postmaster Steve Gray, Sales and Service Associate Debbie West, Jacksonville Postmaster Debra Gornik, Acting Jacksonville Area Manager Colores Seuwin and Marketing Manager Lucious Sumlar.

"RCE is used as a real-time snapshot of customer interaction.  It is not just about the score," said GFA Marketing Manager Lucious Sumlar.  "However, we have some outstanding achievement throughout our district."

The attributes measure in the Mystery Shopper program should become so commonplace to every day performance that if the program were to end tomorrow, it would not changed the customer's retail experience in any way.

Mystery shoppers record how long they spent in line, how the retail unit looked, how courteous the retail associates were ,and other details about their visit.

Here are other Florida offices Bonifay and Panama City Northside with 10 perfect scores in a row.

Bonifay FL

Left to right: Marketing Manager Lucious Sumlar, Retail Specialist Lauren Leach, Sales and Service Associates Misty Erickson and Greg Williams, Manager Post Office Operations Todd Smith, and Supervisor Customer Services.Charles Munns.

Panama City Northside

Left to right: Marketing Manager Lucious Sumlar, Retail Specialist Lauren Leach, Station Mgr-Northside Station Chris Cox , Supervisor Customer Service Vanessa Peterson, Sales and Service Associates Chantrella Knox, Randy Holt, and Steve Martin, and Panama City Officer-in-Charge Brenda Johstono

.

Jacksonville Pottsburg & Arlington stations honor employees

Jacksonville Postmaster Debra Gornik recently honored three employees from Pottsburg Station.

From  left to  right: City Carrier Harry Britton  and Rural Route Carrier Jane Hoover recently retired while Custodian John E. Daniels celebrated 30 years of service.

Postmaster Gornik also honored Arlington Station Manager of Customer Service Brian Gordon for 30 years of service.

Congratulations to all.

Warner Robins GA employees recognized by Inspection Service

Warner Robins clerks Dennis Gilstrap and Corey Jones were recently recognized for outstanding performance by the United States Postal Inspection Service  (USPIS) . 

Gilstrap handled a nationally seeded HAZMAT package correctly and Jones identified and intercepted a USPIS seeded anonymous mail package.  

They were personally commended by Homeland Security Coordinator Jill Jacquin along with Acting Postmaster Greg Gordon and Acting Supervisor Lee Holt .

Pictured L to R: Acting Postmaster Greg Gordon, Clerks Dennis Gilstrap and Corey Jones, Homeland Security Coordinator Jill Jacquin, Acting Supervisor of Customer Services Lee Holt.

Macon employees celebrate 50 and 40 years of service

Macon GA Letter Carrier Arthur Howard  has celebrated 50 years of service with the Postal Service.  

Howard started with the USPS in 1965 as a carrier substitute,  and after one year became regular atthe Mulberry Station.  In 1975 he begin carrying his current route. 

Supervisor Customer Service Oletha Duffy said, "People tell him that is amazing to be on a route for so long, but it is no big deal to him. He enjoys being a mail carrier and  enjoys  being around the customer he serves. "
 "I have supervised Arthur Howard on and off since 2012, he has never called in sick. Arthur's co-workers  tease him about sleeping in his uniform and sleeping in his car at the South Macon Station because he is always willing to work on his nonscheduled days and often breaks  up his approved annual leave days to come in when requested." 

Pictured  left to right are: City Letter Carrier Arthur Howard, Acting District Manager
Mary Sullivan, Acting Manager Post Office Operations Area 4 Roberto Farias.

Rickey Bryant, who is totally deaf, has worked in Macon GA 40 years since 1973 where he began his career working on the letter sorting machine (LSM) for more than 27 years.

When the LSM was phased out, he vecame a general expeditor and five years later he switched to his most recent position as a nixie clerk position at the Rockey Creek Branch.

Bryant has helped many coworkers learn sign language and feels blessed to have work with his fellow employees.

He is married with three sons and four grandchildren.  He and his wife love to travel and will celebrate his retirement with a three-week South American cruise.

Pictured left to right are: Distribution Clerk Rickey Bryant, Acting District Manager
Mary Sullivan,  and  Acting Manager Post Office Operations Area 4 Roberto Farias.

Gainesville FL PO salutes Jimi Hendrix

Gainesville customer Diane Otto recently went to the Gainesville Post Office and was welcomed by Window Supervisor David Davis who was honoring guitarist Jimi Hendrix adorned in his best 1960s outfit in honor of the latest Music Icon postage forever stamp.

Otto and her husband are big Hendrix fans and Davis' tribute to Hendrix put a smile on her face and the faces of many of the customers in line that day.  Some of them even called him "Jimi" and wanted to take pictures with him.

Davis decorated the back wall with records displaying pictures of some of the music legends that are currently being offered on stamps and Otto declared  "I'm very happy to see a postal worker with enthusiasm and spirit."

Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Hendrix displayed an innovative style that embraced the influences of rock, R&B, modern jazz and the blues, inspiring musical artists of his era and beyond.

The Jimi Hendrix Forever Stamp went on sale earlier this month at Post Offices nationwide, online atusps.com/stamps, at the Postal Store on eBay at ebay.com/stamps, and through 800-STAMP24
(800-782-6724).

“Combining influences from rock, modern jazz, soul and the blues with his own innovations, Jimi Hendrix helped found three new genres of music — heavy metal, jazz fusion and funk — and in doing so, left behind an indelible mark on pop music and popular culture generally,” said Joseph Corbett, chief financial officer and executive vice president, U.S. Postal Service.

The Postal Service has released numerous stamps to celebrate and honor music icons who had a big impact on American culture and the music industry. The Jimi Hendrix Forever Stamp kicks off the 2014 Music Icons series, which will include Janis Joplin later this year. The 2013 Music Icons series honored Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Lydia Mendoza.

The new limited-edition Jimi Hendrix stamp, designed by artist Rudy Gutierrez, features a vibrant, colorful design fashioned to evoke the movement and rhythm of the late singer and pay homage to the psychedelic rock era of the 1960s.

The stamp pane, designed to resemble a vintage 45 rpm record sleeve, features a painting of Hendrix’s face surrounded by colorful swirls and small icons that reference song lyrics or aspects of Hendrix’s life. The various icons include flowers, a guitar, a mermaid and a butterfly. The stamp art shows Hendrix in performance, wearing one of his trademark vintage military jackets and playing one of his beloved white Fender Stratocaster guitars.

For more information, here is the link to the Postal Service's website with more information about the Hendrix stamp.

http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2014/pr14_015.htm

Gulf Atlantic District Retirements

Gainesville FL-- Denny McCoy and Helene Hawkins

The employees at the Main Street Station in Gainesville FL organized a retirement party for two rural carriers who decided to start a new chapter in their lives.

Denny McCoy has been a Rural Carrier at this unit for 31 wonderful years, while Helene Hawkins worked at the same unit for a period of 13 years.

They both had some good stories to tell others about treating customers with courtesy and respect. We wish them both well on their retirement.

Pictured from left to right: Lisa Murphy (A) SCS, Helene Hawkins (Rural Carrier), Angelo Rollins (Mgr, C/S) and Denny McCoy (Rural Carrier).
 

Leesburg GA--John Floyd

Full Time Clerk,John Floyd (center) has retired after 30 years of service. Also pictured is Postmaster Lori McDonough (left) and Supervisor Reames Clanton (right).

Gulf Atlantic Post Offices celebrate Consumer Protection Week

The U.S. Postal Service and the Postal Inspection Service recently joined with government agencies, advocacy organizations and private sector groups nationwide to celebrate National Consumer Protection Week in March.  

Special lobby information was provided at Post Offices in Warner Robins GA, Tallahassee FL, Macon GA and Jacksonville FL.

This coordinated, consumer-education campaign encouraged individuals across the country to take full advantage of their consumer rights.

“The Post Office is proud to work with a broad coalition of groups to share tips and information to   protect consumers against fraud,” said Consumer and Industry Contact Tony Joy. “As one of the most trusted companies and the most trusted government agency, consumers have a high confidence in the mail and expect the Postal Service to protect the privacy of their personal information.”

This year's focus was on sweepstakes scams. How can you tell if a sweepstakes is legitimate? Thankfully, most sweepstakes are legitimate and appropriate marketing devices.

The Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act, sometimes referred to as the “Sweepstakes Law,” helps safeguard consumers by placing certain requirements on companies that sponsor sweepstakes contests.

At a minimum, sweepstakes sponsors are required to include these statements in their mailings:

• No purchase of a product or service is required to win, and a purchase won’t improve your chances of winning.
• Number, retail value, and complete description of all prizes.
• Name and business address where sponsor can be contacted.
• Entry procedures and eligibility requirements.
• Termination date for eligibility.
• Estimated odds of each prize.
• Winner selection method.
• Geographic restrictions for the offer.
• Approximate dates when winners will be selected and notified.

All required disclosures must be “clear and conspicuous” to consumers.

These tips can help protect you from becoming a victim in a sweepstakes scam. To learn more, visit our fraud education and prevention website at www.deliveringtrust.com.

 

Warner Robins GA

Homeland Security Coordinator Jill Jacquin interacted with Warner Robins customers sharing key facts in how to protect themselves from fraudulent schemes during this month's National Consumer Protection Week.

 

Tallahassee FL

At the Tallahassee Centerville Station (from left to right)  Consumer and Industry Contact Tony Joy, Postmaster Michelle Kulik and  Tallahassee Manager Customer Services Marion Grubbs worked at a display to distribute literature to customers about safeguarding their personal information.