MANSFIELD ─ Preshie Stirtzinger sends out her Christmas cards every year.
The post office clerk for the Ontario branch does that for her family and her 150 more customers. Stirtzinger said she would put a little note in the card and sign “Preshie, Ontario Post Office.”
She has been sending cards to the customers since transferring to the branch almost six years ago. As the only clerk serving at the location, Stirtzinger said she became friends with many of them.
“It’s my postal family,” she said.
The respect and love from the community eased her concerns about working at a new facility years ago, Stirtzinger said. That is why she started writing those Christmas cards, to thank them.
“They just made me feel so welcomed. So I have grown to absolutely love and adore them all,” she said.
“Every year, I try and say ‘Thank you’ by buying them Christmas cards and putting in all their P.O. boxes and mailing to specific customers that come in here on a regular basis that have made an impact in my life since I’ve been here.”
Stirtzinger said she enjoys the peacefulness at her small office, but loves her customers who make her day when they come in.
Staci Cathers is the only one serving at the Lucas Post Office. She has been wearing different Santa hats and Christmas headbands at work these two weeks. While some of them make her look silly, Cathers said, they always make customers smile.
She said she wanted to make her customers happy and bring in the holiday spirit. She started to wear the hats and headbands last year but did it more this year.
“Just because people’s spirits seem to be down a little bit … because they can’t go see their families,” Cathers said.
With her seven-year service at the Lucas branch, Cathers has won the community’s support. She said some of them told her they love her. They gave her Christmas cards, cookies and even masks.
“They are awesome customers,” she said.
A lady sent a red “Letters to Santa” mailbox because she thought of the postal worker when seeing that mailbox, Cathers said. She put it on the counter as a decoration.
She also tries to go above and beyond when helping the customers. A lot of them do not know what boxes to use when mailing packages. She always helps them figure out the best option.
The post office’s service is especially needed this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shenna Worcester, the only post office clerk for Sherman branch in Mansfield, joked she has been on the “auto mode” in December. She is much busier this holiday season.
“On a daily basis here, I’m doing at least $500 more than I was last year…which would be equivalent to 20 additional customers almost every day. So it’s gone up quite a bit,” she said of volume increase.
The number of mails and packages she processes has already grown almost to the “Christmas level” since March, Worcester said. With the holiday season, the volume has nearly been double that of last year.
Customers are not only mailing more this year but also larger. Worcester said because the COVID-19 pandemic stops many people from visiting their families this year, they are condensing gifts for a whole family into a large box and shipping it.
