june.valliere@waylandpost.org
Stone worked three out of his 35-year career as Wayland’s Postmaster. He spent the first 29 years as a rural mail carrier, driving a 26-mile route in an old station wagon on Route 2. When he started, mail carriers had to provide their own vehicles; the USPS did not provide trucks for mail delivery until the mid-1980s.
The loquacious Stone looked back fondly on those years. He said he enjoyed getting to know the families along his route and feeling that he was part of the community.
Automation changed postal service work processes, according to Stone. When he first started, they sorted mail by hand starting at 4 a.m. Technology is not limited to sorting mail, according to Stone. It also helps management develop more efficient mail routes and methods, and allows managers to use data mining to map performance metrics and follow up on deficiencies, he said.
Although Stone was interested in management opportunities, he waited to pursue that path until his children entered high school so he could attend sports and school events.
While he was still a mail carrier, he was a shop steward for the National Letter Carrier Association. He started his management career about eight years ago as a supervisor in the Woburn Detached Mail Unit, where he managed the workflow of 200 employees and oversaw over 69 mail routes. He moved to the Northborough location and then the Clinton office, where he was the officer in charge, then back to the Woburn office, the second-largest facility in the northeast. Before becoming the postmaster in Wayland, Stone held the same job in Lincoln.
Each management position was a promotion that involved more responsibility. While working, he took U.S. Postal Service management courses, which he said were equivalent to a college education.
What a postmaster does
Stone explained that the postmaster manages the budget for his district, helps customers and responds to complaints, resolves union issues, develops work schedules, finds substitutes, and coordinates with the mail carriers’ supervisor. The postmaster’s ultimate responsibility, he said, is to see that every piece of mail is delivered daily. His work day began at 5:30 a.m.
Building community with police, business owners, and residents, Stone said, was the favorite part of the job. He said the post office is about customer service. According to Stone, 20% of all shipping is handled by the USPS.
A good career The postal service has provided Stone with a “good living,” allowing him to put three children through college, and he encouraged young adults to consider working for it. There are many opportunities since 38% of the postal workforce will be leaving in the next few years, he said. The post office offers “tons” of training and an opportunity for upward development, and there are jobs for high school and college graduates such as tractor-trailer drivers, mail carriers, customer service clerks, data analysts, and management positions, he said.
“I am a fantastic example of getting the training to move up to a management position,” said Stone, who did not go to college.
More information about job opportunities is available at usps.com/careers. Anyone over 18 is eligible to apply.
Stone has prepared for his retirement and is looking forward to pursuing his hobbies as well as spending more time with his three children and two grandchildren. He and his wife purchased a house on a lake in Lunenburg, where he can fish. His other hobbies are gardening, boating, golfing, cooking, and traveling. Although he also enjoys oil painting, he’s “terrible,” he said. Stone would also like to do some volunteer work. In the past, he coached youth hockey and participated in food drives.
“I always knew I wanted to be a postmaster and am blessed to get where I am,” Stone said. “I’m grateful that I accomplished the goal that I had when I first started working for the post office.”
Ed Murray succeeds Stone as postmaster.
