Postal machine does everything but talk: automated teller service is convenient for customers, but some workers fear cuts in jobs
When Thomas Wirth walks into the Elizabeth Post Office to mail a package, usually two to three times a week, he doesn’t wait in line anymore.
He walks up to a fully automated machine that will weigh his package, give him the appropriate postage, provide a dated receipt and send him on his way.
Over the past year or so, the U.S. Postal Service has been rolling out these machines, called Automated Postal Centers (APCs), at select post offices across the state.
With step-by-step instructions available in English and Spanish, the machines also are accessible on days and at hours that the tellers are not; and at some locations, available 24 hours a day.
At the Elizabeth Post Office, postal worker Carrie Castaneda assists patrons using the APC for the first time.
The APC does everything short of face-to-face transactions. While tellers still handle money orders, bulk drop-offs and other tasks, the machines, which take credit and debit cards, dispense stamps, weigh packages and calculate postage for Express Mail, Priority Mail, First-Class Mail and Parcel Post items.
“We love it,” said Castaneda, who has worked at the facility for 22 years. “It helps the customer . . . and it has decreased the lines.”
Of the 21 machines in North Jersey, the machine at the Westfield Post Office is getting the greatest use, averaging USD1,400 in business a day, while Elizabeth is second, at USD1,200. Trailing closely behind are South Plainfield and Jersey City, said Elizabeth Postmaster Carmen Fede.
The machine has received mixed reviews from the postal workers union, where members have expressed concern that it will be used to cut staff.
Fede does not believe that is the case. “Is it going to take away jobs? No,” he said.
The primary purpose of the machines is customer convenience. The machines are extremely reliable and help reduce the lines at the post office, he said.
With more than 500 post offices in New Jersey, the locations for the 54 machines scattered across the state were chosen largely by the demographics of the areas served by the local post office, said postal service spokesman George Flood.
Nationwide, there are 2,500 APCs, which cost the postal service $80 million.
Cynthia Pinkney Flowers is the president of the Elizabeth postal workers union. The APCs have drawn mixed reviews from the more than 100 members of her local, she said.
While some see the machines as a threat to their jobs, others like the fact that at post offices where the machines are located, clerks are able to close their windows earlier; otherwise, they would have to remain open until 7 p.m., Flowers said.
