Regular visitors at the Medical Lake Post Office have been noticing improvements in the last couple of years. Fresh paint went up on the walls in the lobby lined with post office boxes. Decorations appear on various holidays. And last year, plants and flowers were added to the brick flower beds in front of the building in the 300 block of East Grace Street.
The changes are thanks to the efforts of Postmaster Lonnie Townsend, who arrived in Medical Lake in the spring of 2022. He said he wants to make the post office welcoming for people who come to check their mail, run into a neighbor or friend and stay to chat for a while.
“It’s kind of an impromptu meeting ground,” he said. “We try to keep it clean and festive so people want to come in and visit.”
The current décor is a mix of Valentine’s Day and a few items left over from Christmas. When asked, Townsend jokes that he has to leave them up because Punxsutawaney Phil saw his shadow and six more weeks of winter means he can’t take down the Christmas decorations yet.
“We’ll probably go big for St. Patty’s day because I have a ton of stuff in the storage unit,” he said.
Townsend grew up as a self-described military brat, spending a lot of time in Texas and Germany. He then joined the Army himself and served on active duty for 13 years and then four years in the National Guard. He started working for the United States Postal Service about six years ago.
“I’m big on giving back, so it was still a way to serve, just a different aspect,” he said.
He started as a clerk, working in Cheney and then taking a job as acting postmaster in Reardan before coming to Medical Lake. While he’s never officially had a delivery route, he has delivered the mail.
“I still do that, too,” he said. “As a postmaster, you do a little bit of everything. You clerk, you deliver mail, you talk to customers.”
Townsend enjoys chatting with the people who come into his post office. “I get to talk to everybody,” he said. “I get to hear about what’s going on. It’s how I hear about all the good food events. You’re integrated into the community.”
The most important part of his job is making sure the mail gets delivered, Townsend said. “You never know when somebody is waiting for medications or checks,” he said. “I feel like if we don’t get it delivered, we’re doing a disservice to the customer.”
One of the perks of working in a small town post office is that people can usually get their mail even if the address isn’t quite right. Townsend said it’s not uncommon for an extra number to be added, a number be missing, or an address to say west instead of east. But small town mail carriers know their customers and the mail usually finds its way to its intended destination. “Most of the carriers on the routes, they’ll say ‘I know that name,’” he said.
That’s one of the things Townsend likes about working in small town post offices. It was that way in Reardan, as well. “I could probably tell you every single person and their box,” he said. “To me, a small town is more personable. You can know more of your people.”
It was in Reardan that Townsend embraced decorating for the holidays. It was something he did on his own, using items he purchased himself. One year for Christmas, he purchased and put up an inflatable Christmas decoration. Soon, local residents were offering theirs to help decorate.
“I started with one inflatable,” he said. “By Christmas I had a whole yard (full). It was the yard of the town to come see. It helped you find the post office.”
Townsend returned the borrowed inflatables, but he began buying and using other decorations for various holidays. “It’s just something I do,” he said. “I like it. I think it should be festive.”
Before he left Reardan, one of the local residents created a painting showing the outside of the post office and presented it to Townsend. It hangs on his office wall, along with pictures of his time spent in previous post offices.
One of his favorite holidays to decorate for is Christmas, just because there are so many options. He can use Christmas trees or wreaths, but also snowflakes and stars and other decorations. “I can do so much with Christmas,” he said.
St. Patrick’s Day is his second favorite to decorate for. “I don’t know, there’s something about green,” he said. “We’ll probably go all out for St. Patty’s Day because I have a ton of stuff in the storage unit.”
He also enjoys the Fourth of July and Veteran’s Day. “I do a lot more patriotic stuff,” he said. “That’s why the walls are red, white and blue.”
Townsend wanted to paint the interior lobby and the original plan was to make it all blue. “We just went with it,” he said. “We went out and got paint and started painting it ourselves.”
They discussed adding red and white to make it more patriotic, but didn’t have time to finish the work themselves. They put in a request and USPS paid to have a local contractor finish the red and white walls. USPS also paid for a new floor and new carpets inside the building. Towsend likes to put fresh flowers in the lobby and makes sure there is always a nice smelling air freshener appropriate for the season.
His efforts have been noticed by customers, but they don’t always mention it directly to employees. Townsend said he hears people talking about how they like the new paint and how clean and nice smelling it is inside. “You hear them talking in the lobby,” he said. “It’s fun to hear them.”
One of the more noticeable changes is the addition of flowers out front. “We’ve added flowers on the walkway in front of the post office,” he said. “The flower beds are a big one.”
Townsend bought some flowers himself and planted them last spring. However, he was new to gardening and planted too early.
Rural carrier Chris Howe, who has worked out of the Medical Lake Post Office since 2004, is a gardener himself and has found himself in the position of giving planting advice to his boss. “He might have planted a few flowers too early and they got a little frostbite,” he said.
He has also given lawn care advice to Townsend. “He accidentally put a full bag of fertilizer in the yard and burned it,” Howe said. “He had no idea.”
Howe has also contributed his expertise in other areas, including putting in a lattice for an ivy Townsend planted to climb. Gardening is not a skill set he expected to use while working for the Postal Service, he said. “I may have fixed a sprinkler head that was busted and moved a few sprinklers,” he said. “I worked at a golf course a long time ago, so I learned a lot from that. I just help make things pretty.”
As the flower bed grew, Townsend started noticing plants that he hadn’t put in. Members of the community had taken it upon themselves to contribute flowers and Towsend spotted others tidying the flower beds. “It’s almost like it’s become a small community garden,” he said. “It was super nice last year, the way it turned out.”
Townsend was happy that the deer left the flower beds alone. That is, until he planted some purple kale for color toward the end of the season. Townsend soon noticed evidence of snacking. “They love purple kale,” he said. “They didn’t mess with the mums or anything, just the purple kale.”
Like the customers, Howe is appreciative of what Townsend has done to make the post office attractive and welcoming. “Most of the postmasters here never seemed to care about the appeal before Lonnie got here,” he said. “He just makes it pretty.”
Townsend is already making plans for this year’s flower crop, while incorporating what he learned last year. He’ll plant later and be sure to consult with Howe about what flowers will do best.
Townsend isn’t only making things nice for his customers, he also does it for his employees. For Christmas one year, Towsend bought each carrier a waterproof jacket with a custom emblem created by Steps Custom Print Shop on the back, which lists the local zip code and the words “Proud to serve Medical Lake” below an American Flag and a red, white and blue bald eagle. Again, the purchase price came from his own pocket.
Townsend also got himself a jacket with “Medical Lake Postal Life” written on the back along with the numbers 022, a reference to the 99022 zip code in Medical Lake. The jackets help show community pride, Townsend said.
There are more improvements on the way, including plans to improve the parking lot and paint the exterior of the building. He’ll do whatever he can to make the post office welcoming, Townsend said.
“It just makes us more a part of the community,” he said. “We know it’s a visiting ground.”
