WASILLA -- If you want a good look at growth in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, just visit the post office.
Lines at main offices in Palmer and Wasilla often snake out the double doors that separate the front counters from the rest of the building.
Over the lunch hour one day last week, at least 20 people waited to do business at Wasilla's post office.
"It's impossible," said Gaby Kimmons, taking up a spot at the end of the line to pick up one package and mail another.
Officials with the U.S. Postal Service say they will try to get more people to use existing satellite post offices under contract to private operators to remedy crowding at Palmer and Wasilla, but aren't planning any new ones.
Numerous so-called "contract postal units" are already in the area, according to officials: Brentwood station at Dunbar Drive just off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway; Knik station at Mile 9 Knik-Goose Bay Road; and stations along the Parks Highway at Meadow Lakes, Houston and Big Lake.
The Postal Service figures that's enough to cover the burgeoning core area of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, said Ernie Swanson, a Seattle-based spokesman for the agency's Alaska district.
"We have plans to do additional promotion to be sure people know contract stations are in those areas," Swanson said. "There are no plans to add any others at this point."
The government also urgers postal customers to use www.usps.com to process mail -- including packages -- and make use of carrier pickup programs, said Kathy Hamilton, acting marketing manager for the Postal Service's Alaska district.
Scarce data was available on the amount of traffic at city post offices.
Palmer's traffic rose by 8 percent last year but has dropped 2 percent since, according to Hamilton.
She could not provide actual numbers of people using Palmer or Wasilla.
The Palmer postmaster said the drop there is probably only temporary and due to the recent rise in stamp rates. Over time, however, the post office has "gotten noticeably busier," said postmaster Dan Carper.
Personally, Carper said, he'd like to see the small post office in the Butte expanded to add post-office boxes. Located in a video/grocery/liquor store along the Old Glenn Highway, the post office right now has a window and offers limited retail.
Most of the mail theft under his jurisdiction occurs in the Butte or along Kink River Road, Carper said.
"If they had a Brentwood (type) station at the Butte, it would be very handy. It would allow people in the Butte possibly to get a post-office box and not have to drive into Palmer. And then there are the mail theft issues."
Existing contract stations are feeling the effects of the area's population growth, manager Hamilton said.
The Knik-Fairview area is the fastest growing part of the borough. Post-office boxes at the Knik station are already nearly rented out, Hamilton said. The agency plans to add more.
"You can see where we're trying to capture some of that growth that's going on in the outlying areas, which will help Palmer and Wasilla," she said.
Contract post stations handle postal services but under private contract.
Each contract is different and the bid amounts vary, Hamilton said. A contract station might be found in a hardware store or a grocery store. At Knik, greeting cards are sold; a sign on a bulletin board advertises copies for 25 cents or 50 cents a page.
Private operators have to comply with the government's standards, Hamilton said. Those include standard signs and counters "so there is a postal look."
Complaints about the contract stations do surface occasionally.
Hamilton said that because the stations are privately run, "it is a little bit challenging to get them all on the same page."
She visited Mat-Su post offices and stations recently as an anonymous "mystery shopper."
She waited for just six minutes at the Wasilla post office, and clerks asked "all the questions we require of them," Hamilton said. "They were working diligently."
Hamilton also toured the contract stations. She said she was impressed that contractors were already getting the hang of a new weight pricing policy.
She also checked cleanliness, safety, access and signage. One location didn't have very good signs, she said, declining to identify which one. The Postal Service is ordering new signs for that station.
Overall, Hamilton and postmaster Carper said the contract stations are a good deal for the government and for contractors, who get more foot traffic for their businesses.
"We make out like bandits because they're only getting paid, say, $50,000 to run a store 12 months a year, seven days a week, and we don't have to build a post office," Carper said.
At Wasilla's post office last week, Kimmons was making her second attempt to pick up that package.
Last time, the line actually extended clear out the front doors. Kimmons figured it would be 45 minutes before she got to the counter.
"I didn't have time to wait that long," she said. "I had my grandbaby in the car and my daughter was waiting."
Fifteen minutes away at the Knik station, four people mailed packages or bought stamps.
There was no line at all.
Daily News reporter Zaz Hollander can be reached at 352-6711 or zhollander@adn.com
