MORE THAN JUST MAILBOXES: HOMETOWN TOUCHES, 'COMMITTED' WORKERS SET SR POST OFFICE APART

Twenty-three years ago, Irma Zine started out as a postal clerk, the entry-level position in the United States Postal Service. Today, she's the postmaster at Santa Rosa's Main Post Office on Second Street and, as such, she also is responsible for all the other town branch locations.

"I like the community feeling of Santa Rosa," she says. "I feel that our offices, carriers and clerks are part of that community. They are very committed to this community."

So is Zine, commuting to work from her home in Vacaville. "The traffic isn't bad when your day starts at 2:30 a.m.," she says. "I am here then to oversee the start of the day."

As the U.S. Postal Service enters its peak season, Zine leads a tour of the Main Post Office, which has been decorated for the holidays. So has the lobby train, which is changed monthly. "One of our retired carriers, Terry Strom, set it up," Zine says. "He comes by every month to decorate it."

Strom worked as a carrier for 36 years and has lived in Santa Rosa since 1977. "I loved every second of it," he says.

An active member of many of the local railroad clubs, he set up the train on a short track above the clerks' counter in 1999 to promote the Stamp Train visit. It makes 500 round-trips a day, traveling a total of three miles.

"The Stamp Train came and went," he says, "but when I went to take the train down, the clerks said, 'No, don't take it down. We love it.'"

Five years retired, Strom goes in every Saturday to clean the track and every Monday to reset the manual timer. He accepts no compensation, although it has been offered. Carriers like Strom come from every walk of life, Zine says. "We have every type of culture and personality here. We're every day proud. What they say about inclement weather, that's us. We are committed."

In 2007, the main post office had 345 employees. This year it has 280, Zine says. "We are a leaner and more efficient post office," Zine says. "We encourage our carriers to know the people on their routes, to be vigilant about what's going on, another set of eyes in the neighborhood. "The clerks get to know the people that come into the post office everyday as well."

At the downtown post office, many people from the downtown shops and businesses come into their lobby. And since new travel rules require passports for travel to Canada and Mexico, they've seen a pickup in requests, especially in the spring. About 16.5 billion cards, letters and packages will be delivered during the holiday season in the San Francisco postal district. Things pick up considerably in Santa Rosa during this time of year, too, but Zine's staff is consistently busy, she says.

Saturdays are one of the busiest days year-round, and traffic slows a tad in the summer with people on vacation. Because Santa Rosa has a number of post offices, Zine thinks people decide which one to visit on the basis of convenience. "Roseland has really nice parking," she says. "Some people like the plaza environment of Montgomery Village. Coddingtown used to be busy in the evenings.

"There are three types of postal offices in Santa Rosa. Contract Postal Units are in business like Best Wishes, Winding Rose and Office Depot. They sell postal products and handle mail and boxes but don't currently have scanning and tracking capability. "Finance Stations are the locations in Roseland, Montgomery Village and Coddingtown. They can also sell registers and money orders, have bulk mail and do postal tracking.

"Last are the carrier stations. We have one on McBride. The mail post office does everything including passports."

None are scheduled for closure as the Postal Service tightens up to balance its budget, says James Wigdel, the USPS Corporate Communications Representative for the San Francisco area. The volume of First Class mail has decreased while parcel post has increased, but the biggest growth is coming from Priority Mail, Wigdel says. "People love the commercials, and it's brought attention to the Priority Mail option with the flat rate boxes and the free pick-up."

Another hometown attention getter in Santa Rosa's downtown post office is the wall with photos of residents who are serving in the armed forces. A former postmaster who was active in the military started the display after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Zine says. Photos stay up for six months to a year before they are mailed back to the family, which can return them to be displayed again. Just one of the postal workers have children on that wall. Zine's daughter Mercedes Zine, 21, serves in the Air Force and is stationed in San Antonio, Texas.