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Meet Mr. ZIP code Enamored of numbers, Gerard Amato enthusiastically dispenses digits daily to hundreds of callers seeking to complete addresses Wednesday, February 28, 2001 By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
"Good morning! ZIP code information! " That's the way Gerard Amato answers the phone every time it rings at his workplace. There are several seconds of silence as he listens to the question.
"Bethel Park? That's an easy one! 15102!"
The next call comes two minutes later.
Gerard Amato and the ZIP Code Information Service can be reached at 412-359-7860.
In the telephone directory, that number is listed in the blue pages under United States Government, Postal Service/General Mail Facility.
ZIP codes also can be obtained by calling any neighborhood postal branch. Local post offices have copies of the National ZIP Code Directory. Customers can buy one for $25.
ZIPs also can be obtained on the Internet at the United States Postal Service Web site: www.usps.com .
"Good morning! ZIP code information! ... Cleveland, Ohio? Do you have an address? ... Do you have the number on 42nd Street? ... 44105. ... You're welcome!"
The Dormont resident recites ZIP codes 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the main Pittsburgh office of the United States Postal Service, 1001 California Ave., North Side.
"Good morning! ZIP code information. YES! You have a REAL person on the phone!"
Amato greets about 300 callers each day in a cheerful manner figuratively brimming with exclamation points. "I seldom get a rude caller," he says. The number of incoming inquiries picks up in weeks preceding Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter.
"East North Avenue? Do you have the address? ... Just a minute please. That's Pittsburgh 15212."
Handling an average of 38 or 39 calls per hour, Amato, 59, has little chance to chat with co-workers and no opportunity to hang out at a water cooler or coffee maker. His desk is in a windowless room with about 10 other postal service employees. None of this bothers him.
He's neither bored nor irritated with the never-ending stream of faceless telephone callers, despite the fact he's been the ZIP code information clerk since November 1981.
"I love my job. I enjoy talking to people, especially the regular customers who call every day. They enjoy talking to me, and I enjoy talking to them."
"Good morning! ZIP code information! ... Clever Road? That sounds like Robinson. ... Montour High School? 15136-1099."
Amato delights in knowing most local ZIPs -- including the nine-digit variety -- off the top of his head. He also has memorized many out-of-town ZIPs. He uses a computer to look up ZIP codes quickly that he has not memorized. The computer is backed up with the massive National ZIP Code Directory that "looks like a big phone book."
All kinds of numbers fascinate him, and he misses no opportunity to work them into conversations.
"Oct. 1, 1952. That's the day I got my first cat, Bubbles. From 1952 to 1971 I had seven cats. I love cats, but I don't have one now," he tells a Post-Gazette reporter who watches and interviews him Feb. 6.
"Today was a good day for you to come because today is the 90th birthday of former President Ronald Reagan. Today he becomes the third former U.S. president to reach 90. He has lived the third longest, so far, of all of the presidents."
Which brings up one of Amato's off-the-job passions: the presidents of the United States of America. He is endlessly fascinated with all facets of their lives. He knows the day, month and year when each was born and when each died. "I've been studying the presidents all my life."
He reads everything he can get his hands on, and his favorite library employee, June Lewis of Crafton, aids his information quest. She's been a clerk at the Carnegie Library's Sheraden branch since 1959.
It has not escaped his notice that he and she both make their living helping people find information. They have dated since 1986 and plan to marry later this year.
"John F. Kennedy is my favorite president. Oct. 12, 1962, he came to Pittsburgh, and I went Downtown to see him. I waited three hours [for him to come out of a hotel]. President Kennedy -- I can still remember his coppery hair shining in the sun -- was with Gov. Lawrence. Ten days later he gave that speech about the Cuban missile crisis."
April 24, 1964 is another date of personal presidential significance. "I shook hands with LBJ at the Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel."
Amato relates important dates in the lives of presidents to important dates in his own life. President Kennedy was shot and killed Nov. 23, 1963, and his funeral was Nov. 26, 1963, the same day Amato started his postal career.
"I started out as a letter carrier, but I did that for only two months. It was really cold," Amato says, recalling he came in from the cold, reporting to work as a night-shift clerk from 1964 to 1967. In January 1967, he was switched to the day shift.
Former day-shift jobs have included hand-sorting tons of incoming mail. "We had to do it very fast. I loved that job. In 1971, the first letter-sorting machines came into the post office. I remember it very well."
Don't think for a second Amato ignores ZIP code seekers while chatting with a reporter or a regular customer. When a telephone light signals an incoming call, he smoothly terminates one conversation and launches into the next.
"Good morning! ZIP code information! ... That sounds like Mt. Lebanon. You know, Mt. Lebanon has six ZIP codes. Do you have a street address? ... OK! That's 15228. ... Thank you! You have a nice day, too!"
With no caller waiting, Amato turns to the reporter and says, "Speaking of Mt. Lebanon, I go to St. Bernard's Church which has its own nine-digit ZIP -- 16216-1698."
The next caller elicits a bigger-than-usual smile from Amato. "You want to send President Reagan a birthday card! Unfortunately, I don't have President Reagan's ZIP code. I don't even know which California town he lives in." He gives the caller the Sheraden telephone number of his favorite librarian.
Much as he loves his job, Amato gets vacation days, sick days and two breaks in every workday -- 10 to 10:30 a.m. and 1:15 to 2 p.m. ZIP code information is available 24/7, Amato notes with some pride. Co-workers fill in, even in the middle of the night. But there's only one regularly assigned, full-time ZIP code information clerk in Pittsburgh.
Coupled with the fact most other postal jurisdictions don't have full-time ZIP clerks is the fact most people have never met one.
"When I meet people and they ask me what I do, they seem interested in my answer," Amato says. "I met a lady at a dance one time and she said she calls me at work all the time."
When his workday ends, he is really done. No long-term projects or deadlines hang over his head -- which gives him plenty of time to indulge his love of old movies.
"Rear Window," "High Noon," "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "Splendor in the Grass" are four of his favorites. Grace Kelly, Jean Peters and Natalie Wood are three of his favorite actresses.
"Natalie Wood. Born July 20, 1938. Died Nov. 29, 1981," Amato says. "I remember where I was when I learned she had died."
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