There’s still no permanent worker at Savoonga’s Post Office, but Dawn Peppinger with the U.S. Postal Service in Anchorage says a new hire could be just days away.
After Savoonga’s only postal worker resigned in mid-November, the office has been facing intermittent closures, frustrating the community with backed up mail. Several Savoonga residents applied for the vacant postmaster relief position, and Peppinger says the Manager of Post Office Operations is conducting interviews this week.
Peppinger says she was pleased to receive a number of applications, and hopes to hire two postmaster reliefs for the community of 700 on St. Lawrence Island. That way, if one worker becomes sick or has to leave town, someone is trained as a substitute.
For now, Casey Okbaok [OCK-bay-ock] from the Teller Post Office is holding the post in Savoonga. She’s been overloaded with backed-up mail and holiday deliveries since last week—attempting to sort through it all before she returns to Teller on Friday.
If the interviews go well, Peppinger says a new Savoonga postal worker should be hired this week and could start working as early as next Monday.
