Post office tries ATM concept in bid to speed up service

The US Postal Service recently delivered something new in Randolph -- a do-it-yourself mail kiosk. Customers can send packages with just a touch of a computer screen and without waiting in line. The Randolph post office on Thomas Patten Avenue has one of only three such machines in the state.

Agency officials are predicting that the Automated Postal Center machine will be as revolutionary as the banking industry's ATM networks, which allow customers to have access to their accounts 24 hours a day (and let banks keep fewer teller windows open). By the end of July, Randolph's automated kiosk will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The service window is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

There are 10 APC machines in the Northeast and by the end of the year there will be 2,500 nationwide, said Christine Dugas, a spokeswoman for the US Postal Service. Post offices in Boston and Woburn also have the kiosks. Randolph's kiosk was installed a month ago and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held June 2. The Randolph office, which serves about 30,000 customers a week, was chosen because it is one of the busier post offices in the area, Dugas said.

Using credit or debit cards, customers can buy stamps, weigh packages, calculate prices, and buy postage for packages weighing up to 70 pounds. Mail and packages can be sent express, priority, first-class, or parcel post. The 4-foot-high machine also allows customers to look up ZIP codes. And it even asks whether there are hazardous materials being shipped, just as a window clerk would do.

The kiosk ''can do 80 percent of the types of transactions normally handled by the window clerk," said Dugas. ''One of the convenient things about the equipment is that currently, due to FAA regulations, if a package weighs more than a pound, you must present it in person and that is for security reasons. In using the [machine], you don't have to do that because they have a credit card number or debit card number and it can trace the sender through that."

The machine also has other security precautions to track those who try to send illegal or dangerous items, she noted. ''It's very secure."

Because the machines are new, Kerry Cribben, postmaster in Easton, temporarily has been assigned to demonstrate and promote the Randolph kiosk. For several weeks, Cribben has been approaching post office customers with a smile, an information sheet, and an invitation to try the machine.

''Have you seen our new Automated Postal Center?" he asked a customer on a recent day. ''It's quick, easy, and user friendly." The kiosk is reaching the postal service's goal of $10,000 worth of business a month, Cribben said, with the take ranging from about $200 to $500 a day.

But the kiosk can't handle everything. It can't accept cash and customers still need to go to the window to mail items at the lower book rate. And, money orders also must be purchased from a clerk.

''Most of the customers are still going to the window. They all have their reasons," said Cribben. ''When the lines do grow, most will look at the line there and then over here, where there is no line."

Rebecca Hally stood in line to mail a box of toys she sold on eBay. The kiosk is ''a great idea," she said. ''I haven't used it yet. I always pay in cash."

Sharlene Azer said she has frequently used the kiosk. A Randolph resident for 28 years, she recently moved to Easton. But she still drives to the Randolph post office to use the machine in the morning before she goes to work in Avon.

She discovered the kiosk one morning after driving from Randolph because the Easton post office was still closed at 8:30 a.m.

''It's a tremendous convenience," she said. ''I'm computer challenged and I needed to know I would be able to use it, and it walks you through like an ATM."

Azer said she likes using the kiosk so much that she has been telling everyone -- friends, co-workers, even television stations. Because of her enthusiasm, she was invited to cut the ribbon at the official unveiling and help demonstrate how the kiosk works.

Cribben said customers' biggest concern ''is whether there will be a loss of jobs." The automated machines will never replace postal clerks, he said, but they do provide them with more time to deal with complicated transactions, which makes the post office more efficient.

And come holiday season, when customer lines usually wrap around the lobby and out the door in Randolph, the kiosk will be especially appreciated, he predicted.