(November 18, 2014) Watford City, North Dakota – With the holidays fast approaching, the local Watford City Post Office is feeling the pressure of trying to adequately meet the needs of their customers with an insufficient amount of staffing and an enormous amount of mail volume.
“The hardest part in getting employees here is the high cost of living,” said Nathan Declerck, officer in charge at the Watford City Post Office. “In addition to the high cost of living being a deterrent for potential employees, the mail volume is compounded on top of that. This community is just growing so fast.”
According to Declerck, there are approximately 2,500 stops on the mail delivery routes around the Watford City area at the present time. And a large number of those stops have multiple boxes, meaning there are about 3,000 customers being served just on the mail routes alone. That number doesn’t even include any of the new residential developments where residents there are seeking new mail routes for their mail delivery.
“We have definitely recognized this issue and we are in the process of working with our corporate office to establish new delivery routes to serve these new residents,” said Declerck. “Customers call on a daily basis wanting to know when there will be delivery, and I want to assure those customers that we are working on it as we speak.”
With the loss of several postal employees in recent weeks, Declerck said two new clerks would be starting the week of Nov. 17 and one new rural carrier would be added as well. He hopes this will boost delivery time, as well as the wait time at the front desk area.
“These new additions will definitely help in the handling of mail volume coming in and out of this location,” said Declerck.