Post Office Expands Services for Summer Population
By Leslie Rott

Mackinac Island Postmaster Debra Fisher prepares mail that will be sent around the world.

Other than being mainly a seasonal post office and receiving mail by plane or boat, the Mackinac Island Post Office is just like any other mainland Post Office in the United States. Over the past several years, the post office here has expanded its services to accommodate the large number of summer workers and visitors who come to the Island during the summer.

"I know we are supposed to be going back in time on the Island, but not at the post office," Postmaster Debra Fisher said of all the products and services offered by the Mackinac Island Post Office on Market Street.

Although letter volume has decreased over the last several years because of the widespread use of e-mail, it still takes the staff a little longer to sort mail in the summer, with both incoming and outgoing volumes increased.

Since last summer, the Mackinac Island Post Office has been authorized to process passports. It takes six to eight weeks once an application is filled out to receive a passport and costs $112 for regular and $200.80 for expedited service. By January 2007, anyone traveling to Mexico and Canada by plane or boat will be required to have a passport.

"With our area," she said of the new service, "I thought it would be something we could use."

The staff here has processed between 30 and 40 passports since the service began.

The post office is equipped to guide someone through the entire application process, as well as take a picture. A certified copy of a birth certificate with an embossed seal must be presented at the time of applying.

Ready Post shipping materials, pre-paid phone cards, and stamps are also available for purchase at the post office. Fudge shops and other large

postal shippers maintain money accounts at the post office to make their shipping easier. The staff deducts the postage costs from the account as they are incurred. Mrs. Fisher said she can spend up to two hours a day processing fudge and dividing it into mail tubs going east, west, or staying in Michigan.

Online options like Click and Ship allows customers to print labels, with or without postage, from their computer. Net Post allows customers to send greeting cards, post cards, and other mail without ever having to leave the house.

"You'll hear us ask 'Is anything fragile, liquid, perishable, or potentially hazardous?'" Mrs. Fisher said, because regulations in each country are different and it takes a little time to get summer workers from other countries acclimated to how mail works in the United States.

The implementation of street addresses for 9-1-1 emergency telephone service doesn't affect the post office on Mackinac Island, because there is no delivery service.

If people decide to use their physical address on their mail, Mrs. Fisher said, it should be addressed in the following way: Name, physical address, PO Box number, Mackinac Island, MI 49757. This will ensure that mail gets to the correct person and is not returned to sender.

Mackinac Island Post Office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Access to post office boxes is available daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.