Travis Stevens, Wellington’s new postmaster, only had a few minutes to talk in mid-December. The rush was on and he was in the middle of supervising the 13 employees of the post office in Wellington and overseeing a branch in Carr.
“We’re down one clerk because Carr needed help. They have one carrier and one clerk and are open four hours a day,” Stevens explained. “Our workload is growing faster than we can keep up.”
Stevens became became postmaster in July 2016 replacing Tisha Duke who had served in the position for three years.
The new postmaster is plenty busy but there’s a jovial air in the back room of the Wellington Post Office; lots of smiles as people go about their work. Friends have brought cookies and they’re happy to share.
Stevens is an old hand with post office work. He was a carrier for 12 years in Loveland and for another two years in Fort Collins. In his new position he has more responsibilities and must divide his time between supervising and handling mail. A Wellington resident for 19 years, he says the trade-off is a good one. He likes working closer to home and is happy to longer have an increasingly congested commute to his job.
“We work for Amazon,” he says with a smile. Stevens gets to work at 4:15 a.m. most days even though the post office does not open to the public until 7:30 a.m. During that time he accepts daily shipments from Amazon, sorts them and prepares them for delivery.
“Post Office jobs are recession proof, stable and have good benefits, Stevens says explaining why he has been with the U.S. Post Office for so many years.
When he’s not working the mail, Stevens is at home working on his ranch along with his wife Bobbie and their two children, Alex, 11, and Zach, 9, both students at Eyestone Elementary. “We have cows, horses and pigs. This time of year much of the work falls to Bobbie,” Stevens said.
He tries to finish up his work at the post office by 3 p.m. but that does not always happen.
We’re here to serve, to help people,” Stevens says. He does it with a smile.