The post with the most

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Cory D. Payne
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  Whether it's sending in your absentee ballot or sending grandma a Christmas card, the 48th Communications Squadron Post Office has you covered.

The post office's primary mission is to provide postal services to servicemembers and their families, boosting morale and supporting deployed Airmen with care packages.

One of its important functions is providing Airmen and their families the ability to mail in their vote for the up-coming election.

"What we do here is receive people's request for an absentee ballot in the mail and place it in the correct box. After the recipient receives it, fills the ballot out and brings it back to our finance section in the post office, we provide them with an express mail label, which allows them to track the ballot online and have a guarantee that the vote will be accounted for," said Senior Airman William Courtois, 48th CS postal clerk.

The express mail label allows the sender to track their ballot through the United States Postal Service website. All ballots are tracked and recorded in an additional system to make sure they are accounted for.

"All ballot material is tracked online. When we receive a ballot, our tallies are recorded into a postal database called the Automated Military Postal System," said Master Sgt. Mark Greene, 48th CS post office superintendent. "All the ballots we get, incoming and outgoing, are tracked on the database so everything is visible up at headquarters level."

The post office has received more than 800 absentee ballots, adding to the 5,000 in-bound packages they have each month, a number which typically doubles during the up-coming holiday season.

During the holiday season, the post office handles a large volume of incoming and outgoing mail. Holiday gifts and catalogs need to be sorted, sent and delivered. Because of the increased volumes, the post office requires additional help.

"For the holiday season all of our figures pretty much double, so that's when we're pretty hard on the clock. It's real busy in here," said Greene. "We rely pretty heavily on our volunteer program during that time."

Volunteers come from all over RAF Lakenheath and receive training on how to operate as a military postal clerk.

"If a person is interested in volunteering, they should contact the post office at 226-5464 and we will go ahead and bring them into the office, give them a few briefings and see what areas we need help on," said Greene.

In addition to using volunteers during the holiday season, the post office will be extending its hours to help Airmen and their families pick up packages, helping to make space for more.

"The post office can only take in so much mail until we don't have any more room left," said Greene. "We ask that customers do come check their boxes frequently to get their mail cleared out. That way other folks can get their holiday packages as well."

For more information on deadlines for sending in your ballots, to volunteer as a postal clerk or for information on changes during the holiday season contact the 48th CS Post Office at 226-5464.