Krystal Drone takes over as temporary Jefferson City postmaster

Krystal Drone is Jefferson City's new acting postmaster, replacing Jason Hirschvogel.
Krystal Drone is Jefferson City's new acting postmaster, replacing Jason Hirschvogel.

Since Monday, Krystal J. Drone has been running Jefferson City's post offices.

She's the new "officer in charge," after Jason Hirschvogel was named the new postmaster in Fulton.

"In our Gateway District, there are only two postmaster positions that are in capital cities," Drone noted during an interview Tuesday morning. "So, I feel honored to be here."

Hirschvogel said the changes "all happened very quickly." When the Fulton job opened up, he applied and was appointed.

While Jefferson City's mail volume includes state government, as well as businesses and residential services, Fulton's postal services involve some state institutions, the School for the Deaf and two colleges.

"Fulton's going to present plenty of new opportunities for me," Hirschvogel, 41, said. "It's a different speed up here."

Drone, 35, has been Eldon's postmaster since Sept. 20, 2014. She also served as postmaster at Centertown and California. And before those jobs, she worked in Jefferson City under then-Postmaster Don Knoth.

"I started my postal career, actually, in Columbia as a city carrier in 2001," she recalled. "And then became a supervisor in Jeff City in 2002 and stayed there until 2005."

She first supervised the retail unit at the Main Post Office, 131 W. High St., then later became a delivery supervisor at Capitol View Station, 1715 Jefferson St.

Drone said those previous jobs absolutely will help her as the "temporary" postmaster, until a permanent postmaster is chosen in the next 60 to 90 days.

"We've got a lot of the same employees," she said. "I kind of know the operations; not a lot has changed."

At the same time, she said, the national Postal Service has changed a lot.

The package delivery business keeps getting busier, Drone said, while first class mail drops off because more and more people use email or social media sites.

"I would love to see letters," she said. "I think, when you get a letter or a birthday card in the mail from your family, it means so much more than just getting a text or an email.

"So, I would love for our world in this day and age to go back to that - but, unfortunately, it's easier to get on social media and wish somebody a happy birthday than go out and buy an actual card."

However, when it comes to packages, Drone said technology has improved the service.

"We have new programs, where we have GPS on the carriers and we can see where a package gets delivered," she explained. "Our customers can actually see now - if they've ordered a package online - they see when it's out for delivery, they get those notifications."

That's much different from more than a decade ago, when she was supervising deliveries and a customer would ask about a package, Drone said.

She grew up in a Postal Service family, and has been working for the federal agency for the last 15 years.

"My brother works for the Post Office," she said. "My mom, my dad, my grandparents."

Even her husband of two years, Justin D. Drone, is postmaster in Mexico. "We have a lot to talk about when we get home, (but) we try not to talk about work," she said.

Drone also has two children - a daughter, 10, and a son, 9. "They're active in baseball and football, and she's in competitive cheer, so I'm a busy mom," she said.

She's considering applying for the permanent appointment to the Jefferson City postmaster's job.

"I love meeting with the public," Drone said. "I'm very task oriented. I'm taking it day-by-day and task-by-task - and we'll see how it goes."