<b>Owners: </b>
Barbara Privitera and Sandy Seim
<b>Short bio: </b>
Barbara is originally from the Buffalo, NY area. She settled in Alexandria in 1980 after living and working in Miami, FL, Norfolk, VA, and a few other places. Her many skills have led her to work as a long-haul truck driver, engraver, construction worker, courier, and office manager. She worked for the founding owner of Old Town Post Box before purchasing the business in 1992 with Sandy. Sandy, who was born in Philadelphia PA, came to Alexandria in 1955 with her Navy family. After college, she worked at the Smithsonian Institution and the Navy and Interior Departments as an oceanographer and supervisor. She also served as a Senate staffer for a few years. After leaving federal service she worked for Old Town Post Box before purchasing it with Barbara.
<b>Why did you choose this particular business? </b>
Barbara's interest in the business evolved from her initial employment as a courier to becoming the manager of Old Town Post Box. Sandy was originally a customer and, after leaving the government, she decided on a career change and went to work managing Alexandria Independent Mailers, our bulk mail business.
<b>Why did you choose to work for yourself rather than as an employee for someone else? </b>
The logical transition was to buy the businesses where we both worked rather than begin again with a new owner. We knew the business well and liked working with the customers and vendors.
<b>What have you learned from being in business? </b>
Owning a business is quite different from working for another. It is not a get rich quick situation nor is it the proverbial 9 to 5 work day. An owner must be prepared to give a lot of time and money to making a successful enterprise. The trade-off is being able to directly influence the outcome and feel a sense of accomplishment. Being the owners in businesses like ours takes patience, perseverance, a sense of humor, and the ability to smile and be pleasant even when you don't feel like it. But, we truly enjoy talking to and helping our customers.
<b>Share an anecdote of a challenging or humorous experience or biggest surprise learned from working your business: </b>
One of the constant challenges in this business is to handle the variety of packing and shipping we see daily. We have packed everything from antique china and sculpture to rock-star autographed guitars, from tires to weathervanes to teddy bears. We pride ourselves on giving each piece personal care and attention.
<b>What have been the advantages and/or disadvantages of operating a business in Alexandria? </b>
We like the sense of small town we have here in Old Town. It is a great advantage to have so many friends and neighbors who continue to use us for their shipping and mailing projects. We have customers (and their dogs) who have followed us around town for 25 years, and we really appreciate them. We have watched babies grow to adulthood, go to college, and get married. Then we ship to the grandkids. Another really nice benefit is helping other entrepreneurs get their businesses going by helping with the shipping of product samples and providing a sounding board for ideas.