Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 7, 1995 TAG: 9503070074
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BREEA WILLINGHAM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Customers come in to browse and check out the new merchandise. Others have a specific purchase in mind.
What sounds like an ordinary situation in most retail stores is new for one downtown Roanoke operation. This, after all, is not a typical retailer: It's the Postal Store, the U.S. Postal Service's latest attempt to make itself more user-friendly.
The new format was used when the downtown post office was moved last month from the Poff Federal Building on Franklin Road to a former bank building at Church Avenue and First Street.
So far, the Postal Service has converted the lobbies of 70 of its sites around the country into postal stores that resemble the one-stop shipping outlets of such competitors as Mail Boxes Etc. And competitors are taking note of the changes.
Over the next five years, the Postal Service plans similar changes to about 7,500 of its largest post offices. Wanda Morgan, acting station manager of the downtown Roanoke branch, said that although this is the only postal office in Roanoke to implement the new service, all new post offices will have the new concept. The next one expected to open is in Marion, she said.
The Postal Service apparently has decided to meet the competition from private businesses with modern retailing techniques. Some of its rival companies sell packaging materials, shipping services and even post office boxes.
``The concept they're dealing with - making themselves more consumer-friendly and understanding customers' needs - is exactly the right concept,'' said Jim Jellison, executive vice president of the Parcel Shippers Association, a trade group.
Complete with a customer service desk and a display of packaged stamps, stamped envelopes, stamp-collection books and different-size shipping boxes, customers at Roanoke's Postal Store can help themselves to the merchandise and avoid standing in long lines.
``Customers can come in and pick up what they want, just like a regular store,'' Morgan said. ``It makes it easier on the staff and customers.''
Lloyd Holfield, who has worked for the Postal Service for 39 years, said he's pleased with the new idea and has ``heard nothing but positive input from the customers.''
Gloria Bruffey, who works there at a window, calls the new post office ``the store of the future. We're striving towards a more customer-service business rather than just being a government agency.''
With its new services and convenience, the Postal Store may put pressure on competitors such as The Packaging Store and Mail Boxes Etc., operations that specialize in packaging and shipping items.
However, while the Postal Store offers padded envelopes, boxes and tape for packaging, it doesn't do the packaging.
``They don't have the knowledge we have in packaging and shipping that we have," said Keith Myers, owner of The Packaging Store. ``They'll probably do easy items and not go into elaborate packaging, such as shipping out artwork in crates and stained glass windows in foamed rubber. Most places don't offer this type of service.''
Joyce Wilson, owner of the Mail Boxes Etc. stores in Roanoke County and Salem, said she doesn't expect competition from the new post office.
``They offer commemorative stamps, and we offer generic stamps. We offer UPS shipping and packaging and they don't, so in no way does it affect us,'' Wilson said. ``Everyone ships with us, including the Postal Service.''
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***