Carlton postmaster loves to deliver

Over the past several years, customers walking into the Cloquet or Carlton post offices have been greeted by a familiar face backed up with a helpful, can-do attitude.

The guy who seems to be at the front window of every local post office is Philip Birkhofer, who now runs a one-man operation in Carlton.

Birkhofer started his career in Cloquet seven years ago, then shifted to Carlton before going back to Cloquet for about five years. He was the head clerk there, "kind of running the front window, taking packages, selling stamps" before taking the job in Carlton when it opened up.

Now he's back in the Carlton office, and he loves the small-town vibe.

The Pine Knot News recently spoke with Birkhofer about his experiences with the postal service in the area. He answered questions in person and with a written statement he titled "I Love To Deliver."

Q How did you get started with the post office?

A I had some friends that were carriers. They said to give it a try. It's a great job. So I gave it a shot. And I ended up just really, really liking it. There's a lot of different types of positions.

Q What are some of the jobs you have done?

A Every (job) within the post office I have done. So, for Cloquet it's a much larger spectrum of jobs with all the mail handling and getting the mail ready for all the carriers in the morning. You sort through that, get all their letters, larger envelopes, packages. It's all different organizational types of jobs.

There's a lot of back-office stuff to do. There are so many carriers and clerks working behind the scenes for everybody's mail. It's astonishing.

And, the front window - how the postal service connects with the customers and provides such a great service - there's something about it. It's rewarding for me to give that knowledge to customers and give them the kind of service they need.

For me, working with the customers is one of the greatest highlights of this job.

QHow does the mail get delivered to postal customers here in Carlton?

A All of the routes here in the Carlton area are rural, so the carriers are all in their own vehicles. There's just a couple - two or three - that help the surrounding area. The routes kind of blend in with Cloquet now. There are really no on-foot positions.

Q You'd expect the holiday season to be the busiest part of the year for the post office. What do your seasonal cycles look like?

A Christmas time, beginning of the year, those are a lot busier. There are so many more people ordering online and mailing out stuff. And, to be honest, everybody's kind of depending on the postal service then. If we break things down even more, the first of each month everybody's getting ready for the next month. Summertimes are usually a little bit quieter.

QWhat is something people might be surprised to learn about the Postal Service?

A Informed delivery. Have you heard of it? It's for any customer that wants to sign up for it to know what they've got coming, what they're getting in for the day. It's really cool. Informed delivery sends you a picture of your mail piece that's coming in. It's sent to your email. It literally sends you a picture of your mail. That's a new service we came up with in the last year or two that a lot of people don't know about.

Q What is something memorable that has happened to you while working for the post office?

A It was customers here, probably a half-year ago, and they were a couple that was engaged to get married in Hawaii. Well, they ordered the ring online, which a lot of people do, but their ring was running late. It was, like, Friday, they're supposed to leave for Hawaii that weekend, and they didn't have their ring.

So, they had to leave, but one of the fathers was still around. They reached out and left a message for me with the tracking number, and we found it in Cloquet. So, that weekend I met up [with the father] and gave him the ring here at the office, just before he left for Hawaii.

Q What is it you most like about working for the Postal Service?

A I do just want to put an emphasis on how great the customers are. Of course, I've said that already. There are so many great people out there in this community, and the chance to serve is what I am most grateful for. I just want to say "thank you" so much to everybody out there who makes this community shine brighter. It is because of people like you that make working for the United States Postal Service the most rewarding job ever.