Master of the mail

DUNLAP, Tenn. — Joyce Berry works the phone behind a well-worn wooden desk at the post office in Dunlap, Tenn., the cramped room further crowded by two computers, several file cabinets and a large magnifying glass casting light over an array of official correspondence.

Her humble temporary quarters away from her normal office in South Pittsburg, Tenn., don’t give it away, but the plaque on the wall tells visitors that they are in the presence of the National Postmaster of the Year as recognized by the National League of Postmasters.

“I had no clue that I would be chosen,” Berry said of the award, which pitted her against postmasters from every state as well as Puerto Rico and Guam. Berry was temporarily assigned earlier this year to Dunlap instead of her normal post in South Pittsburg when the former head of the Dunlap office quit.

The achievement isn’t much of a surprise to her colleagues, however, who say they’re proud she was honored for her 29 years of exceptional service to the U.S. Postal Service.

“I think it was an excellent call. Joyce goes above any beyond,” said Kathy Jenks, president of the Tennessee League of Postmasters.

John Robertson, manager of Postal Service operations for Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia, said the award is given to those who show outstanding leadership, customer service and employee relations.

“She’s an upstanding person, well-deserving of any recognition or award she gets because she is a model for all of our managers,” Robertson said.

But the real story is profitability. The USPS is fighting an uphill battle against e-mail, Facebook and $54.6 billion in annual labor costs, Berry said, and ensuring that she takes in more money than she pays out is key.

Furthermore, Congress has mandated that the USPS pay for expenditures out of its own earned income, just like any other organization, but stamp price increases or the elimination of Saturday delivery must go through a politicized process that includes a presidentially appointed board of governors, Congress and federal regulators, according to a 1970 law.

The Postal Service says it expects to lose $238 billion over the next decade, even thought it has already reduced work hours by 165 million in 2008 and 2009, with 90 million more hours of reductions planned for 2010.

In this tough financial situation, Berry has thrived, according to her USPS report card. She consistently ranks as an “exceptional contributor” to Postal Service income, the top category out of four, and has used lean efficiency methods to increase productivity and decrease employee hours worked.

“Those seconds we save add up to minutes and those minutes add up to hours,” she said. “If every office saves 100 hours and there are 36,400 postal retail locations, that’s a pretty good savings.”

Still, Berry credits her Christian faith and her mentors throughout the years, not her spreadsheets and calculator, for putting her in a position to win the nation’s highest honor for postmasters.

Her inspiration for always pushing onward was the late Rosslyn Langford, the first black postal employee in Jackson County, Ala., Berry said, who “told us that anyone could achieve what she had achieved, given the training and opportunity.”

Crystal Kaiser, a distribution clerk at the Dunlap post office, is just glad to have a boss who knows what she’s doing.

“It was nice to have someone come in who we didn’t have to explain stuff to,” she said.

Tennessee has not had a postmaster named National Postmaster of the Year since Frank Wilson, the former postmaster of Nolensville, Tenn., was recognized in 1982, according to the National League of Postmasters.

Online: See Joyce Berry, postmaster for the United States Postal Service, explain the significance of her key recognition.