03/10/2008
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Morning Sentinel staff photoIn the middle of the village is the tiny Shawmut post office -- a place with its own zip code -- 04975.
While the Shawmut post office is but a small outpost in the otherwise vast U.S. Postal Service network, it is a busy place when it come to selling stamps and sending off parcels, especially with Internet sales.
Shawmut Postmaster Earlene E. French can attest to that.
French, 52, returned recently from Washington, D.C., where she was awarded the 2007 Growth Award. The post office was the top revenue generator last year among the state's 123 small, full-time post offices.
The award, a statuette of the Postal Service's signature American eagle, now sits on her office desk.
"My revenue for 2007 increased 40.5 percent from the same period the previous year -- stamp sales by mail, P.O. boxes and eBay mailings," French said. "Last year was approximately $35,000."
She said a lot of people have gotten into selling items on eBay and bring their packages to her for shipping.
"I've been fostering that relationship with customers," French said.
One local customer, Charles Brown of Shawmut, sells antiques on eBay and mails them from the local post office. He also receives catalogs and other sales-related packages in Shawmut.
"She's an awesome, awesome mail lady -- I do probably $400 or $500 a week worth of shipping," he said. "I do a whole bunch through this post office. It's right down the street from my house -- no lines, no waiting."
Brown said it also is much cheaper to use the Postal Service than to use any of the commercial delivery services.
Post offices of similar size -- the Postal Service's smallest full-time locations -- include those in Hinckley, Vassalboro and Farmington Falls.
French, who grew up in Athens and now lives Benton with her husband Rick, has been postmaster in Shawmut for five years. She is only the third postmaster in Shawmut since the office was built 40 years ago.
"It's like a little doll house," French said, adding that she and her husband actually own the building and lease it to the U.S. Postal Service. "It's only 416 square feet and I think people are surprised when they realize what goes on here because it just looks like a quiet little office where there's not much happening."
She has worked over the past 20 years at post offices in Waterville, Skowhegan and Oakland.
French said she does not worry about small post offices being closed to save money in the consolidation craze that is sweeping other levels of government.
"I just got back from Washington and we actually talked with U.S. Senator (Susan) Collins about this," she said. "The 10,000 smallest post offices in the country only account for less than one percent of the total U.S. Postal Service budget."
She said being the postmaster in a small community has many rewards.
"It's a quiet community, a close knit community," she said. "As with any small town I think people like their post office; we're the only government employee people have contact with. It's a meeting place. People come in the morning; you get to know what their kids are doing."
She enjoyed spending five days in Washington, receiving the award from Deputy Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and meeting Sens. Collins and Olympia Snowe on Capitol Hill.
"It feels nice. I'm very proud of the award," French said. "I worked very hard last year to increase the revenue. I take my job personally. I love this office."
Doug Harlow -- 861-9244
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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