Rehoboth Postal Annex celebrates grand opening
Story Location:
18908 Rehoboth Mall Blvd
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
United States
The U.S. Post Service moved its Rehoboth Annex to its new home off Route 24 in July, and Postmaster Tami Davidson said there’s already been a noticeable improvement of employee morale.
“It was a much-needed improvement,” said Davidson, who is retiring next year after 29 years with the postal service. “This has exceeded my expectations.”
The 10,000-square-foot annex, behind Walmart in the old food court of Rehoboth Mall, replaces the 7,000-square-foot space in Rehoboth Beach Plaza the post office had been using for the past 19 years.
The population for the area the annex serves encompasses Indian River Inlet, Dewey, Rehoboth, Lewes, Milton and Millsboro. The annex is a three-shift operation that sorts mail for 40 routes, with more routes expected in the coming years.
Davidson said the new location is right in the middle of the coverage area. “Now we don’t have to go those extra few miles through all the traffic,” she said.
A number of years ago, the Rehoboth annex absorbed the post office’s Lewes annex, once located at East Savannah Road and Massachusetts Avenue, now replaced by Denniston Place.
Davidson and dozens of postal employees who sort and deliver the mail every day played host to post office district managers and elected officials Sept. 19.
Sen. Tom Carper, long an advocate of the postal service, said 8 million jobs rely on the postal service. He said there’s been a drop in first-class mail because of the internet, but he said partnerships have been created with internet-based companies because private shipping companies like UPS and FedEx aren’t committed to delivering to every address the way the postal service is.
“They don’t want to go the last mile,” said Carper. “We’re all grateful for the work you do.”
