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Lines shrinking at new Q.C. post office
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Customers line up during the lunch hour rush at the new post office in Queen Creek. Oct. 27, 2009.
Thomas Boggan, Tribune
With Queen Creek's new post office in its third full week of operation, long lines are dying down and customers and workers are settling into a routine at the new facility, said Queen Creek Postmaster Chris Bisdnack.
The 20,140-square-foot location on Ellsworth Loop Road opened Oct. 13, replacing two smaller facilities that handled sorting and customer service separately. This is the first time the post office's 80 employees have worked out of the same building.
The first few weeks were marked by long lines, with consistent 20- to 30-minute waits throughout the day, Bisdnack said. The longest line Bisdnack counted was 55 people.
That was partially due to P.O. Box customers picking up new keys and partially due to people coming in from other cities to use the new building, Bisdnack said.
Some customers were upset when they found out the new building didn't have self-service machines or more than three service windows, which is what they expected, Bisdnack said. Bisdnack hopes to get self-service machines in a year or so.
However, wait times are now down to under 10 minutes.
"The transition is pretty much over," Bisdnack said. "We're into a normal routine now, so hopefully people will find the lines they experienced over the past few weeks won't be so bad."
And customers are also getting some perks. With 42 spaces, parking is easier than it was in the old location.
Plus, there are three boxes accessible from a drive-through, so customers no longer need to get out of their cars if they just want to drop off a letter, Bisdnack said.
The Saturday schedule was adjusted to line up with other post offices, so customers can now come in from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. instead of noon to 2 p.m. And, since all postal employees are working under one roof now instead of two locations, customers don't have to wait for packages to be shuttled between two facilities before picking them up, Bisdnack said.
The new facility is nice and a comfortable size, although it might need to be expanded if the area starts growing significantly again, Bisdnack said.
"We like it. Obviously, having two facilities moved into one, there's been some growing pains," Bisdnack said. "It's adequate for us right now; it may cause some challenges for us in the future."
If you go
What: New post office ribbon cutting
When: 11 a.m. Thursday
Where: 22424 S. Ellsworth Loop Road, Queen Creek
Details: Refreshments, raffle items and demonstrations of different post office services will be featured at the ribbon cutting.
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