RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM The Honolulu processing and distribution center of the U.S. Postal Service near the airport handles almost a million pieces of mail a day, and now overseeing it all is Frank Santos, who started with the service in 1979 as a part-time clerk on Kauai.

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Answer: A lot of things started when the Unabomber happened and we had to make sure no suspicious packages were being mailed or picked up. We started security back then, and also aviation security since 9/11. Our clerks are trained to identify suspicious parcels. They are trained to ask questions concerning hazardous material. When you mail things and pick things up, at times identification is required. We're going to have a bio-detection system installed in our processing plant in Honolulu in January. It's a machine that is supposed to detect any strains of anthrax. Our employees are trained in emergency preparedness now. It's highly automated.

Q: How much of an impact has e-mail had on the postal service?

A: Our first-class mail has diminished over the last few years because of technology. Fax machines, Internet, remittances and payments electronically -- all of our classes of mail have gone down, with the exception of advertising mail. Basically, the shrinking in our work force is done through attrition.

Q: What's happening with costs?

A: Our work force decreases every year because of automation, yet expenses go up 2 to 3 percent every year.

We're just like any other business: We've got medical expenses that go up. The employee benefits are what drive our costs.

We invest a lot in capital. We're highly automated here. Most postal systems are highly automated. You can deposit a letter into a collection box and no one will touch it until it reaches its destination. It reads bar codes. It reads addresses. It reads handwriting. If it can't be read, a picture is taken and it goes to a remote encoding center and they key it in.

Q: What has been attractive about the job to keep you there for 25 years?

A: The postal service is run like a business. We receive no tax revenues. We're supposed to support ourselves. We deal with competition just like our competition deals with us.

We try to add value to customers by automating processing and delivery. We add value to customers because now they can do mailing from home, print postage by computer. You don't have to walk into our post offices anymore to conduct your business.

We've got these new automated postal centers that run 24/7. In November we're going to have 18 sites.

It's the gratification when you service your customers. They entrust you with their mail. It can be valuable, an heirloom, and they know we will get it there and they appreciate that and they show their appreciation. So it's a very satisfying job.