Alfred Santos Jr. to be Sworn in as Sacramento Postmaster

Becomes 26th Sacramento Postmaster, Dating to 1850

SACRAMENTO, CA — Alfred Santos Jr. will follow a proud tradition dating back to 1849 when the Sacramento City Post Office was first established. On Friday, October 2, 2009, 10:00 a.m., 2000 Royal Oaks Drive, Sacramento 95813, Santos will raise his right hand to take his official oath of office as the 26th Postmaster of Sacramento.

Santos, 45, started his postal career in 1987 in southern California. He has been a manager in the Postal Service for 19 years, and prior to his appointment as the Sacramento Postmaster, Santos was Manager, Post Office Operations in the Los Angeles District. In that capacity, he had management oversight of ten Postmasters. He also served as Manager, Operations Programs Support and Manager of Customer Service Operations in Los Angeles, and as Officer-in-Charge in Boston, MA.

“I plan to be active in the community and continually strive to improve customer service for the City of Sacramento,” said Santos. Being active is part of his lifestyle. Santos holds a Black Belt in martial arts, enjoys tennis, and has run three marathons this year, with plans to run a fourth marathon in November. He believes being a Postmaster means being part of the community he serves. Santos donates several hours at his church and community projects to help the homeless and seniors.

Raised in southern California, Santos and his wife, Jacqueline, have been happily married 21 years. They have two daughters, Noelle and Monique. They reside in Natomas.

As Sacramento Postmaster, Santos oversees 1,334 employees at 18 city stations and branches who process and deliver 1.5 million pieces of mail daily to 360,581 delivery points (addresses) within 566 city and rural routes, including 27,074 Post Office boxes. He administers an annual budget of $78 million.

Rosemarie Fernandez, Sacramento District Manager, will administer the oath of office.

The establishment of the Post Office in New Helvetia, what is now Sacramento, in 1843 marked the beginning of mail service in the area, but it wasn’t until gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma that mail began to come into the valley in large quantity. With no mail delivery service, if miners wanted their mail, they had to come down from the hill to get it. However, some miners soon realized there was money to be made in delivering mail to miners in the gold camps. With simple tools but indomitable pioneer spirit, the early miners carved an existence out of the wilderness that later became the community of Sacramento.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.