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'Rushing' to provide good mail service
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
September 18, 2008 |
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After more than 30 years of dutifully ascending the ladder in the United States Postal Service, one of Brookhaven's behind-the-scenes men is being rewarded with an appointment to the city's top postal position.
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As far as the two locations of the Brookhaven Post Office are concerned, the buck stops with newly appointed postmaster Keith Rushing. But for this old pro, the new job title carries with it virtually no new challenges.
Rushing has seen it all.
When he joined the USPS in 1978, his first job was to stand before a letter-sorting machine punching in ZIP codes as letters rolled by at the rate of one per second. Three decades and several post offices later, Rushing is now in charge of 37 employees and all the mail that comes through ZIP code 39601 - 5,617 city addresses and 5,535 county addresses on 17 total routes, as well as 2,322 post office boxes.
But that's no big deal.
"The only difference is that I'm now over both offices," said Rushing. "Now that I've got the job, I guess you can say I just have more authority."
Rushing has the authority, his use of it is quite judicious. And if it weren't for the nametag, customers at the post office might think he's just one of the guys.
"I've always been a people person, and I can communicate with almost anybody," Rushing said of his laid back approach to management. "The main thing is customer satisfaction and keeping your employees happy - gaining the respect of the customers; keeping the respect of employees."
Through 30 years of constant change in the mail delivery system, how has Rushing managed to perpetuate a friendly atmosphere in the post office?
"I just never lose my temper," he said. "I talk with my employees the way I would want to be talked to. If something doesn't go right, I bring them in and we have a conversation and fix things diplomatically. I've never blown up on anybody."
Rushing said he is stern when he has to be. For repeat infractions, he is not above issuing a letter of warning - not exactly a suspension without pay, but it gets the job done. But problems hardly ever get to the warning stage, he said. He talks it out.
"Brookhaven has a very good work atmosphere," Rushing said. "Everybody gets along. The difference between Brookhaven and a Jackson or a Gulfport with several offices is that everyone in Brookhaven knows each other and has for a while."
Rushing has put in his time in the Jacksons and Gulfports of Mississippi. Since joining the post office in 1978, Rushing has served in various positions in Jackson, Harrisville, Monticello, Magee and then back to Jackson before finally being able to stay put in Brookhaven. In these different cities, he has served as an LSM operator, window clerk, retail supervisor, manager and now postmaster.
And even as postmaster, all the other jobs still apply. Rushing is still apt to get behind the wheel of a delivery jeep and make the rounds if a carrier is absent.
"To move up in the post office, you have to be willing to volunteer up for other jobs," he said. "It's what I've done my whole career - to improve and get more knowledge of what you're doing. But I always come back to Brookhaven. It's where I really wanted to be to start with."
Rushing's three-decade climb up the pyramid came basically on a handshake deal.
Rushing joined the United States Air Force in 1976, serving at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base outside of Tucson, Ariz. As a member of the security police force, one of his duties was guarding the sprawling airplane graveyard, where retired military aircraft are housed for storage, scrap and spare parts.
He joined the service with a friend from Copiah-Lincoln Community College - both intended to join the Mississippi Highway Patrol after discharge.
"He did - I went a different route," Rushing said.
Rushing began working with the Veterans' Administration upon his discharge. He worked for the administration for two years before jumping to the post office for, basically, $500 a month.
"Back then I was making $7,000 a year, and the post office was about $13,000," Rushing said. "So I took the test and got hired."
Rushing said the 1978-era post office entrance examination required lots of memorization - not so much a virtue in the modern post office. The USPS has changed "dramatically" over the years, he said.
Rushing said the use of first class mail is declining rapidly as people pay bills online and communicate through e-mail rather than written letters. The popularity of direct deposit has also meant that far less checks are being mailed.
But the post office adapts to the changes, Rushing said.
The federal service has gone on the offensive in dealing with independent carriers like FedEx and UPS, competing in terms of delivery time and price. Rushing said the USPS was the only deliverer of the three that delivers six days a week, and the post office will even deliver express mail on Sundays.
Rushing said the post office also runs price comparisons between itself and the major delivery companies and shares that information with the customer - even if the post office is beaten in the contest.
"We don't lose very often," Rushing said.
The post office can even clear citizens for international travel. Rushing pointed out that the post office began issuing passports in July.
Appointments must be made and plenty of paperwork filled out, but the post office takes the identification photos onsite and sends the forms off for processing. Traveling Brookhavenites have nothing to do but visit the post office once for 30 minutes and again to pick up the passport.
After years of constantly changing services and procedures and constantly soaking in new knowledge, now that Rushing has arrived at the top of Brookhaven's postal chain, what are his plans for affecting change?
Not much.
"There's really not much else for me to do," Rushing said. "All the employees there want to do a good job - that's what's so easy about being a postmaster in Brookhaven. Everyone comes to work in a good mood and wants to do their job."
Rushing said he plans to remain the Brookhaven postmaster for at least five years, and then the show is over.
"The next thing I'll do is retire," he said. "I've been in the federal government 35 years. I love what I do, and I've been doing it a long time. The post office has been good to me."
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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