Almost a year after Michael Hovey retired last September, the Waterloo post office officially has a new postmaster, as Adam Hamilton was installed Friday morning. 

A Columbia native, Hamilton started working as Waterloo’s acting postmaster in December. He officially took over the role in May, but was just installed. 

“It’s been going great,” Hamilton said. “I don’t have one bad thing to say. Every day poses new challenges. I’ve still got a lot to learn.” 

Hamilton, whose father Jeff is the postmaster in Millstadt, started working with the postal service as a letter carrier with the Gravois post office in March 2012. 

He had been working in construction until then. 

“I was at a point in my life where I needed something more steady, and this was a great opportunity to work in the postal service,” Hamilton said. 

In March 2013, Hamilton became a full-time carrier. He moved up to supervisor of customer service in June 2014. 

In that role, he served as acting manager at a few places and as acting postmaster in places like O’Fallon and Mascoutah. 

Now that he is a postmaster, Hamilton said he has achieved his goal, which he had from the day he started with the postal service. 

“It really paid off with hard work, long hours and being dedicated,” he said, noting he is one of the youngest postmasters in the area.

Hamilton said he was interested in working at the Waterloo post office in particular because of the community. 

“It’s a smaller community, however it’s a community with a lot of growth,” he said. “I’m from Columbia, so I’ve been in Waterloo, I know what the community is like and I believe I can service these customers.”

In his role as postmaster, Hamilton said his goal is to reach out to the community, with an emphasis on local small businesses. 

“I want to help them out and help them promote their products for the community to generate revenue, not only for the businesses but for Waterloo,” he explained. “I just want to serve the community and do whatever I can to promote their businesses and help out that way.”