The USPS social media heatmap lit up like a Christmas tree for the Berea, KY, Post Office during peak season.
The heatmap — an internal application the organization uses to cull information from online reviews from more than 30 websites — allows USPS to track customer sentiment.
A score of “5” is the top mark — a number Berea hit often during this busy time of year.
One commenter said: “I travel a lot, and this Post Office was unique. It was clean. Well-stocked with mailing supplies. Staff was smiling and very helpful.”
Another wrote: “The Berea Post Office has got it down … They’re going to do what they can to help you and they’re going to be very friendly about it.”
In the words of Jenny Moody, a retail associate: “Who wouldn’t love such comments?”
Labor of love
Speaking of peak season: It’s that time of year for Ismelda Ornelas.
The postmaster for Valentine, TX, roughly 200 miles southwest of Midland, TX, cancels between 10,000 and 12,000 envelopes by hand before Feb. 14 each year at the tiny adobe Post Office.
Valentine’s population in the 2020 census: 73.
“This will be my sixth Valentine’s Day as postmaster, yet every year feels different; each brings a new experience, new artwork, new creativity,” Ornelas said.
“I truly enjoy stamping the Valentine postmark on every card and letter that comes through this Post Office and look forward to it every year.”
An annual contest among the area’s schoolchildren determines what the postmark will be. This year’s winning design features a desert landscape and campfire, with a sign reading “Love Station.”
A fateful meeting
Antonio Alcalá, a longtime art director for USPS, has so much experience in the world of stamp design that it’s hard to imagine him as a bright-eyed “fanboy.”
But that is the term he used to describe his chance meeting decades ago with the late artist Keith Haring, whose work graces this year’s Love stamp. The encounter is described in “From the Street to a Stamp,” a story on the Stamps Forever website.
Alcalá spotted Haring gliding by on a skateboard one day in Manhattan, and gathering up his courage, approached.
“Haring didn’t just chat — he sketched a Batman-like figure on Alcala’s backpack, which he also signed and dated,” the story recounts. The backpack remains a cherished possession that Alcalá has stored in an archival box.
The art director had wanted to feature Haring’s work on stamps for years, but it was the recommendation from a former colleague suggesting Haring’s work for the Love series that set the stamp in motion.
The fanboy seems pleased with the result. “The figures look happy and joyous, almost as if they’re dancing, while the heart radiates love,” he said.
“People” appears regularly in Link. Got news to share? Email us.
