Northside Post Office temporary move, return

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Michael Voss
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  If you are one of the more than 10,000 servicemembers and dependents who were used to picking up their mail at the Northside Post Office, building 426, you may have found yourself annoyed 1 July having to lug the kids and packages to and from the parking lot to the old Base Exchange.

On 30 June post office personnel and more than 100 volunteers moved and opened the new make-shift Northside Postal Annex in building 1101. What you may not know is the reason the 86th Communications Squadron, who runs post office on Ramstein, relocated the Northside Post Office.

"In March, after inspectors determined the side of building 426 that NATO uses to house supplies was experiencing roof problems that could cause the ceiling to collapse they noticed our side was dealing with the same issues forcing a complete rebuilding of the facility's roof," said Tech. Sgt. Itzil Cuban, Ramstein's Northside postmaster.

Together with the help of nearly 300 volunteers, the 46 Airmen who work in the post office moved not only 10,500 mailboxes but all the shelves and track conveyor systems to support servicemembers, civilians and dependents from around the KMC in less than 24 hours. But moving into the temporary facility hasn't come without its hiccups.

"This building was all tore up when we first moved in. It has been abandoned since AAFES left and is still on a schedule for demolition, so there was plenty of cleaning up to do from the start," explained Ramstein's Northside assistant postmaster, Staff Sgt. Jonathon Price.

After all the cleanup was completed and the doors were opened, the postal team discovered the facility and temporary move also presented new challenges.

"When we first moved in we could not get our machines used to collect postage to work with the building's power and had to send customers to other post offices in the area to mail packages," Price explained. "We got that fixed, but now the distance between the parking lot and the building are causing some inconvenience to the customers."

To try and remedy some of the inconvenience of carrying packages to and from the parking lot to the post office, the staff has purchased dollies but have still experienced complaints from customers.

"Some of the complaints from the customers showed us a different view on things for example the lack of handicap parking available at the new facility, but we ask they understand this move is only temporary," Price said.

Now more than a month into building 1101, the complaining has slowed but has now turned to questions as to when the postal team will be returning to their normal facility.

"Civil Engineers say the work is progressing and we should be able to move back in early November," Price explained.

Unfortunately, that is right around the time USAFE's largest post office starts feeling the pressure of the holiday mail season so timing may play a factor into when the move occurs.

"If they can finish the building and we can move back by November 1; we will. But much later than that and we will have to stay until after the holidays due to the sheer amount of mail we will be handling at that time," said Cuban.

The postal worker team say they are trying to incorporate some changes in the way they will handle mail receipt and delivery once they move back that should make the customers experience better.

"I answer every complaint with either a phone call or e-mail, but we ask our customers to bare with us," said Cuban. "We are doing the best we can to meet your service needs until we return to our normal facility."