Brian Aldrich This is Me

Education

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1. 1. www.gmtoday.com

   www.gmtoday.com/news/local_sto - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/11/2007   Last Visited: 5/12/2007

   "A first class stamp is going up 2 cents, but additional ounces are 17 cents, not 24 (cents)," said Slinger Postmaster Brian Aldrich.
   ...
   "So if you put them in your glove box and find them 10 years from now and postage is, let's say 80 cents, you can still use them," Aldrich said.

2. 2. Community delivers prized postal job

   www.gmtoday.com/news/local_sto - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/15/2005   Last Visited: 11/15/2005

   SLINGER - Brian Aldrich, 48, postmaster of Slinger thinks he has the best job in the world, and the surrounding community has made all the difference.
   
   "This is a blue-collar town," he said, "easygoing, average people."
   
   After receiving an associate's degree in political science, Aldrich said he was attracted to the better pay in postal work. For 12 years, he worked as a letter carrier in Waukesha, where he was born and raised. He was then promoted and spent four more years in a supervisory position in Waukesha.
   
   He spent five years in Pewaukee as a supervisor, and then went on to three years supervising in the Elm Grove post office before becoming Slinger's postmaster two years ago.
   
   Customers, employees take priority
   
   Aldrich said the greatest rewards in his job come from customer and employee satisfaction.
   
   "Brian's a very highly motivated fella," said John Mejcher, the Portage postmaster.
   ...
   Together, Aldrich said, they live and breathe the postal service.
   
   Aldrich said he plans to retire in Slinger.
   
   "I'm from a blue-collar family, and I like blue-collar people," he said. "In Elm Grove, I could show somebody 40 styles of stamps, and they wanted to know if I didn't have a bigger selection. Here, anything goes as long as it works. We have our share of missed deliveries like any office, but here people apologize ahead of time about complaining, then apologize again for having complained. It's a good group of people, nice community."
   
   Slinger has five routes and Aldrich supervises the five regular carriers, each of whom has a substitute, and four post office clerks. Still, he jumps in anywhere around the office, which includes occasionally traveling to the Hartford post office himself to pick up the day's mail.
   
   Aldrich said on a typical day, each Slinger carrier will average 2,000 letters and 500 to 1,000 magazines, catalogs and newspapers, as well as 20 to 60 packages. He said it would take a big jump in Slinger's size to necessitate hiring more carriers.
   
   Technological impact
   
   During his 26 years in postal work, he has seen technology help increase the post office's user friendliness and efficiency. The national Web site, www.usps.com, allows customers to order packaging materials and print their own labels online. When they arrive at the office, their packages are ready to go.
   
   Aldrich said he does not think e-mail has made a dent in the postal business. "It's the same as when they predicted VHS and DVDs would put movie theaters out of business," he said. "People are going to movies as much as ever."
   
   Instead, he said he thinks the volume of mail fluctuates more with the economy. "It was best in the ‘90s when everybody had lots of money," he said. "It was really down around the time of the anthrax scares, but the economy was down then, too."
   
   Even in a smaller town like Slinger, Aldrich said terrorism still weighs on his mind. "We check the terror threat level daily," he said. "We all have to wear our ID badges because we work in a federal building, and we have to be very, very careful to make sure we always lock our trucks."
   
   At a glance
   
   Brian Aldrich

3. 3. Community delivers prized postal job

   www.gmtoday.com/news/local_sto - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/16/2005   Last Visited: 9/16/2005

   SLINGER - Brian Aldrich, 48, postmaster of Slinger thinks he has the best job in the world, and the surrounding community has made all the difference.
   
   "This is a blue-collar town," he said, "easygoing, average people."
   
   After receiving an associate's degree in political science, Aldrich said he was attracted to the better pay in postal work. For 12 years, he worked as a letter carrier in Waukesha, where he was born and raised. He was then promoted and spent four more years in a supervisory position in Waukesha.
   
   He spent five years in Pewaukee as a supervisor, and then went on to three years supervising in the Elm Grove post office before becoming Slinger's postmaster two years ago.
   
   Customers, employees take priority
   
   Aldrich said the greatest rewards in his job come from customer and employee satisfaction.
   
   "Brian's a very highly motivated fella," said John Mejcher, the Portage postmaster.
   ...
   Together, Aldrich said, they live and breathe the postal service.
   
   Aldrich said he plans to retire in Slinger.
   
   "I'm from a blue-collar family, and I like blue-collar people," he said. "In Elm Grove, I could show somebody 40 styles of stamps, and they wanted to know if I didn't have a bigger selection. Here, anything goes as long as it works. We have our share of missed deliveries like any office, but here people apologize ahead of time about complaining, then apologize again for having complained. It's a good group of people, nice community."
   
   Slinger has five routes and Aldrich supervises the five regular carriers, each of whom has a substitute, and four post office clerks. Still, he jumps in anywhere around the office, which includes occasionally traveling to the Hartford post office himself to pick up the day's mail.
   
   Aldrich said on a typical day, each Slinger carrier will average 2,000 letters and 500 to 1,000 magazines, catalogs and newspapers, as well as 20 to 60 packages. He said it would take a big jump in Slinger's size to necessitate hiring more carriers.
   
   Technological impact
   
   During his 26 years in postal work, he has seen technology help increase the post office's user friendliness and efficiency. The national Web site, www.usps.com, allows customers to order packaging materials and print their own labels online. When they arrive at the office, their packages are ready to go.
   
   Aldrich said he does not think e-mail has made a dent in the postal business. "It's the same as when they predicted VHS and DVDs would put movie theaters out of business," he said. "People are going to movies as much as ever."
   
   Instead, he said he thinks the volume of mail fluctuates more with the economy. "It was best in the ‘90s when everybody had lots of money," he said. "It was really down around the time of the anthrax scares, but the economy was down then, too."
   
   Even in a smaller town like Slinger, Aldrich said terrorism still weighs on his mind. "We check the terror threat level daily," he said. "We all have to wear our ID badges because we work in a federal building, and we have to be very, very careful to make sure we always lock our trucks."
   
   At a glance
   
   Brian Aldrich