Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Dell Avenue post office gets remodel, expansion

By Jeff Kearns

The Dell Avenue post office, which serves Los Gatans in the 95032 ZIP code, will be getting new facilities, thanks to a yearlong remodeling project that began last week. New P.O. boxes will be available for rental, and mail should arrive at homes earlier each day when an automated bar-code sorter comes online.

"Of special interest will be new drive-up lanes, a new box lobby and an expanded parking lot, which should all be definite bonuses for our customers," Los Gatos Postmaster Kathie Faupel said. "Customer-service windows will remain open during the remodel, and there will be no delay in mail delivery, which will continue without skipping a beat.

"There will be some temporary inconvenience," Faupel added, "but we'll keep it to a minimum."

The 95032 ZIP code was redrawn in July to include all routes served by the Dell Avenue facility, including north Los Gatos, La Rinconada, Kennedy Road and the east Los Gatos mountains.

The new bar-code sorters will cut about four hours from the typical mail carrier's day and will be able to arrange mail in the carrier's walking order. Sorting by hand typically takes about four hours, but the new sorter will finish in a matter of minutes. During construction, the sorting area for letter carriers will be relocated to temporary facilities on the back of the lot.

Postal workers can also look forward to new employee facilities, including new lunchrooms, bathrooms and locker rooms. Almost 3,000 square feet will be added on to the building, and part of the service counter will be lowered to better meet the needs of handicapped customers.

Faupel does not anticipate any jobs lost to the automation because of the relatively high turnover and attrition rate of postal employees in the area.

A total of 1,500 new postal boxes will be available when the $2.4 million remodel is complete, which Faupel hopes will help satisfy the great demand for these boxes in town. There is a currently a two- to three-week waiting period for the 2,300 boxes at the downtown post office.

Protection from increased mail fraud is one of the main reasons for the high demand for boxes, along with earlier delivery of mail. First-class mail is often delivered to boxes by 9:30 a.m., Faupel said.

Customers can sign a mailing list at the Dell Avenue station to receive notification of when the P.O. boxes will be available for rental.

In addition to the need for more boxes, Faupel said, another reason for the expanded office is that the town gets swamped with junk mail. "Residents of Los Gatos get a tremendous amount of mail because mail-order catalogs target wealthy areas, often sending mail to every address in a given ZIP code," Faupel said.

Those who are tired of finding their mailbox choked with catalogs and ads can request their name be removed from unsolicited mailing lists by writing to the Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service at 11 W. 42nd St., P.O. Box 3861, New York, NY 10163-3861.

Those who want to request more unsolicited mail may also do so through the Direct Marketing Association. While it may sound silly at first, the option is sometimes useful for residents of isolated rural areas who do much of their shopping by mail order, Faupel said.

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