SIDNEY — The customer service staff of the Sidney Post Office were recently provided breakfast and presented with US Postal Service merchandise as prizes after finishing fourth in the Postal Service’s National Point of Sale Overall Satisfaction (POS OSAT) competition. The contest was designed to determine the country’s Post Office with the best customer service.

The Sidney Post Office was pitted against Post Offices across the country. After finishing as district champions, the competition continued, with customers filling out customer satisfaction surveys they were given when they purchased stamps, sent overnight mail and sent packages.

“I was delighted that our team finished so well nationally,” Sidney Postmaster Brian Schroeder said. “I knew that we have a staff who are committed to customer satisfaction. I was glad to see that those who regularly use the Sidney Post Office appreciate their dedication and hard work.”

According to the US Postal Service website, the Point of Sale survey was an event-driven customer satisfaction survey which measured the customer’s experience at point of sale retail locations. Customers were invited to participate in the survey through a URL, IVR and a QR Code printed on the bottom of their receipt, and the survey was conducted through a web-based survey platform. The customers had the opportunity to take the survey up to 30 days after the date of their receipt. The survey consisted of eight evaluation questions and two open-ended customer supplied responses.

The survey instrument was brief but asked customers to respond to simple questions. After completing the information about the Post Office visited, the first question was “Thinking about this visit to the Post Office, overall, how satisfied were you?” Responses ranged from “Very Satisfied” to “Very Dissatisfied”.

Other questions required responses to questions about whether or not the customer would recommend the Sidney Post Office to friends or colleagues, the amount of time waiting in line, and whether or not the Sidney Post Office made the respondent feel like a valued customer.

Another series of questions asked the respondent to judge whether the sales associate worked efficiently, were knowledgeable about postal products and services, and whether the sales associate had a positive attitude. The same series of questions also asked about the cleanliness of the Post Office and whether mailing and shipping supplies were stocked for purchase.

The final question asked what the Sidney Post Office could do to improve customer satisfaction. Some respondents used the opportunity to commend particular staff members. Others used the opportunity to advocate that a handicapped ramp be installed at the front entrance.

One of those regular customers is Sidney Mayor Mike Barhorst. Barhorst visits the downtown location several times each week.

“There are more than 30,000 Post Offices in the United States,” Barhorst said. “The most recent statistic was from 2022, and in that year, the Postal Service reported more than 689.9 million customer visits. That’s a tremendous volume of customers, and lots can go wrong when you are mailing a birthday card to a grandchild, waiting for something purchased online to arrive, or applying for a passport. The staff of the Sidney Post Office gets it right, and I think most of our residents appreciate their dedication.”

“We were pleasantly surprised that we finished so well in the competition,” Sales Associate Louis Whitlow said. “Of course, we always recommend that customers complete the survey when they purchase our products, but we never know how many actually take the time to do so. It was rewarding to all of us to see that we did so well.”