A few minor changes and updates are being made around Enumclaw to make dropping off your mail a little bit easier.
In a July 9 letter, Enumclaw Postmaster Christopher Scott Christiansen announced the drop box at the end of Cole Street — located all the way at the intersection with state Route 410 — is being moved closer to the Chamber of Commerce building at the edge of downtown.
Another drop box is being installed right outside city hall for additional ease.
Finally, a third drop box is expected to be installed near the St. Elizabeth Hospital and Battersby Avenue, although a specific location has not been determined.
These sorts of changes all indicate that Enumclaw is growing, and Christiansen — who was appointed in 2019 — said there’s been a “noticeable increase” in local mail volume.
However, the Postmaster is also very keen on making sure anyone and everyone has access to USPS services.
“Most of it is spurred is because I want to increase the availability and the convenience in our town,” he said in a recent interview.
Since his appointment, Christiansen has been working on the “overall streamlining of productions.”
“It’s all about flow,” he added. “When mail comes in, how is it sorted? Where do we move equipment? Do we have to double-handle it? How do we process it with the least amount of effort, which immediately reduces the amount of time it takes to sort it, therefore it gets the carriers out earlier on the street, [and] they’ll accomplish their deliveries earlier in the day, thereby providing the customer a higher level of service.”
Speaking of higher quality service, the other long-term project Christiansen has planned is finally moving the Post Office off of Cole Street and into the carrier annex on Railroad Street.
This was the original plan when the annex was built two decades ago, but a review of the Cole Street building’s lease has put the project off into the future.
“It was supposed to have both operations in one [building] 20 years ago when it was built,” Christiansen said. “We have all of that unused space on Railroad that would very easily accommodate a customer parking lot, an updated retail counter and P.O. boxes.”
MEET YOUR POSTMASTER
Enumclaw Postmaster C. Scott Christiansen
Christiansen, who goes by his middle name, grew up on the Plateau in Bonney Lake, and got his first job at a post office — a temporary relief carrier — in Oregon while he was working toward a biology degree at Oregon State.
It was in that office that he met Alisha, who also happened to call Bonney Lake her childhood home, and the two married.
They eventually transferred to a post office in Eastern Washington and decided to move into management; after a while, both Alisha and Christiansen ascended the three levels of Postmaster.
When the couple found they were expecting, they moved back over the mountains, which is how Christiansen ended up becoming Enumclaw’s postmaster while Alisha stepped away to raise the little one.
“Of both districts, and every office I’ve ever worked in, Enumclaw is probably the best office I’ve ever had the opportunity to be appointed to,” he said, noting the area’s hometown feel. “Honestly, I see myself sticking around quite a while.”
The couple are expecting their second child in January 2021.
