Post office to hire more than 100 in Charleston
The Charleston Area Alliance and the West Virginia Development Office has been working with the postal service R.E.C. facility for two months now anticipating this great news. That's right folks, they're hiring!
As other facilities are closing, the nation is looking toward West Virginia to lead in quality mail services.
August 30, 2006
Post office to hire more than 100 in city
Encoding center to expand; N. Carolina facility to close
By Eric Eyre
Staff writer
A Charleston postal facility plans to hire more than 100 workers during the next six months, the U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday.
The Charleston Remote Encoding Center, which now employs 350 data conversion workers at the main post office in downtown Charleston, is expanding following the planned closing of a similar facility in Fayetteville, N.C.
At the Charleston postal center, workers manually read addresses that automated machines can’t decipher. The Charleston facility now handles mail images from Washington, Baltimore and Richmond, Va. It also will process mail from North Carolina and South Carolina once the Fayetteville plant closes.
The new jobs will pay $12.63 an hour, and people already have started to apply, said Michael Thompson, who manages the Charleston facility.
“It’s going to be a significant number of people, and it’s going to have a significant impact on our area,” Thompson said. “It’s good news.”
The Fayetteville postal center employed nearly 190 people.
The Postal Service selected the Charleston site for expansion because it’s one of the top-performing remote encoding centers in the United States, according to a news release. The Charleston facility, which opened in 1994, also keeps costs down and has low staff turnover.
“This was an internal postal decision,” Thompson said. “We’re one of the better performing centers. We have a lot of hard-working, dedicated employees.”
Since 1999, the Postal Service has closed 43 of its 55 remote encoding centers. In addition to the Fayetteville facility, a Tampa, Fla., postal center also will close in March, leaving the Postal Service with just 10 remote encoding centers nationwide.
New technology has created mail-sorting machines that can read most addresses, eliminating the need for workers at the remote centers. More than 90 percent of mail is read by automated equipment.
The data-entry workers handle the remainder of mail that the computerized equipment can’t read. The addresses are scanned and sent to employees at the decoding centers where workers read them and attach a code to the letter that ensures it’s delivered to the correct location.
The work requires sitting at a workstation and typing for extended periods of time. The encoding center is housed inside the downtown Charleston post office.
“Before Christmas, we’ll have some of these people hired,” Thompson said. “And we’ll certainly have them all on board when the Fayetteville facility closes in March.”
Paula Barker-Harless, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 133 in Charleston, said the expansion ensures that the remote encoding center will stay open.
“Twelve or thirteen dollars an hour is good money for Charleston,” Barker-Harless said. “I’m glad to see that money coming here. Now the process of getting the people hired and trained and on board begins.”
New data conversion operators must complete two exams and an extensive computer-based training program.
To apply for the written exam — the first step in the hiring process — applicants may call 1 (866) 999-877 and refer to announcement 164130. They also may apply at www.usps.com/employment and refer to announcement 164130.
To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
The Charleston Area Alliance and the West Virginia Development Office has been working with the postal service R.E.C. facility for two months now anticipating this great news. That's right folks, they're hiring!
As other facilities are closing, the nation is looking toward West Virginia to lead in quality mail services.
August 30, 2006
Post office to hire more than 100 in city
Encoding center to expand; N. Carolina facility to close
By Eric Eyre
Staff writer
A Charleston postal facility plans to hire more than 100 workers during the next six months, the U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday.
The Charleston Remote Encoding Center, which now employs 350 data conversion workers at the main post office in downtown Charleston, is expanding following the planned closing of a similar facility in Fayetteville, N.C.
At the Charleston postal center, workers manually read addresses that automated machines can’t decipher. The Charleston facility now handles mail images from Washington, Baltimore and Richmond, Va. It also will process mail from North Carolina and South Carolina once the Fayetteville plant closes.
The new jobs will pay $12.63 an hour, and people already have started to apply, said Michael Thompson, who manages the Charleston facility.
“It’s going to be a significant number of people, and it’s going to have a significant impact on our area,” Thompson said. “It’s good news.”
The Fayetteville postal center employed nearly 190 people.
The Postal Service selected the Charleston site for expansion because it’s one of the top-performing remote encoding centers in the United States, according to a news release. The Charleston facility, which opened in 1994, also keeps costs down and has low staff turnover.
“This was an internal postal decision,” Thompson said. “We’re one of the better performing centers. We have a lot of hard-working, dedicated employees.”
Since 1999, the Postal Service has closed 43 of its 55 remote encoding centers. In addition to the Fayetteville facility, a Tampa, Fla., postal center also will close in March, leaving the Postal Service with just 10 remote encoding centers nationwide.
New technology has created mail-sorting machines that can read most addresses, eliminating the need for workers at the remote centers. More than 90 percent of mail is read by automated equipment.
The data-entry workers handle the remainder of mail that the computerized equipment can’t read. The addresses are scanned and sent to employees at the decoding centers where workers read them and attach a code to the letter that ensures it’s delivered to the correct location.
The work requires sitting at a workstation and typing for extended periods of time. The encoding center is housed inside the downtown Charleston post office.
“Before Christmas, we’ll have some of these people hired,” Thompson said. “And we’ll certainly have them all on board when the Fayetteville facility closes in March.”
Paula Barker-Harless, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 133 in Charleston, said the expansion ensures that the remote encoding center will stay open.
“Twelve or thirteen dollars an hour is good money for Charleston,” Barker-Harless said. “I’m glad to see that money coming here. Now the process of getting the people hired and trained and on board begins.”
New data conversion operators must complete two exams and an extensive computer-based training program.
To apply for the written exam — the first step in the hiring process — applicants may call 1 (866) 999-877 and refer to announcement 164130. They also may apply at www.usps.com/employment and refer to announcement 164130.
To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
posted by Charleston West Virginia Economic Development
@ 9:20 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I am from West Virginia, yet have been living in NC for a few years now. I am sad to see the hype that is posted here. I was one of the 300, yes that's right 300+ employees who worked at the Fayetteville REC before it closed down. I am saddened to see that you havee hyped it to look like the Charleston center was chosen to stay open due to superior work....some one REALLY needs to check some internal stats!! Fayetteville was typically the #2 site in the nation. There were issues with the property of our location, and since they are closing 2 a year until they make one large center eventually, ours was shut down instead of hassling with the new landlord. THESE JOBS WILL ALL BE TEMPORARY....few will have the opportunity to become full time permanent, or even fathom reaching career status. It is even more disgusting that the USPS did not offer these jobs to those of us who were willing to transfere!!! I would have gladly moved back home! Good luck to those who work there, as it is a wonderful job and great work environment! (UNTIL THEY CLOSE YOUR CENTER DOWN ACCORDING TO THE PLAN ALSO)
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