Rick Messerschmidt officially became International Falls’ new postmaster Friday, after taking an oath to perform the position.
Messerschmidt, who shied from the attention the ceremony focused on him, was already looking towards returning to his daily tasks after the short ceremony marking his promotion to the position.
“Nothing will change I don’t think,” he said, referring to his daily tasks. He expects to continue to be the “chief cook and bottle washer” — helping perform any necessary tasks at the post office branch, including shoveling sidewalks, sorting mail and delivering mail. His job as postmaster, he said, is to work with the staff to keep the policies of the postal service in tact, as well as interact with the community.
“For me personally, I try to do everything here. We have a good working relationship with the employees and we work as a team to accomplish it.”
“I was informed by one of my bosses that you can’t do everything, you have to have good employees to accomplish all your tasks,” he said. “I think that you have to have good employees, and I have great employees. ... I don’t treat my employees any different than how I want to be treated.”
He said the most important trait of a good postmaster, which he tries to exemplify, is fairness.
“Customers want you to give them everything and you try to be fair with everybody,” Messerschmidt said. “... Being fair with my employees and being fair with the customers.”
Messerschmidt leads a team of 16 employees: four highway contractors, six carriers and six clerks.
He has worked in local post offices for more than 20 years. He was first hired in September 1989 to the Falls post office as a distribution/window clerk. In 1990, he became officer in charge of the Ranier post office. In September 1995, he came back to the Falls office as supervisor of customer service, where he has worked until his promotion to postmaster.
He was inducted by Kirby Shofner, regional manager of post office operations for the U.S. Post Office. Shofner was previously postmaster in International Falls and worked with Messerschmidt at that time.
Messerschmidt already has a few items he would like to accomplish in his role as postmaster. His No. 1 goal: increased safety for mail carriers.
“I’m going to focus a lot on safety. I know I am going to talk to the city about getting the sidewalks shoveled,” the postmaster said. “I know they focus on blight in the summer about grass and everything, and I want to find out if people have to keep their city sidewalks shoveled.”
Messerschmidt explained that due to being short staffed, even one illness or injury could result in residents getting mail later than usual. The carriers do have special footwear to prevent slipping, but he said that unkempt conditions slow the carriers down and result in overtime.
“Now that I have to carry because we’re short staffed, I’m finding out what kind of conditions are out, and I’m going to focus more and hopefully the city does have ordinances that people will have to shovel because it takes the carriers longer and is just unsafe,” he said.
His second goal is increasing profits.
“I’d like to make the postal service as a whole profitable, but that’s not going to happen in just this office,” he explained.
