By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
Editor’s note: This story has been updated from its Oct. 2 print version to include comments from USPS Big Sky Postmaster Rhonda Weber.
At any given time, Lynda Barker could remember 200-300 names and their associated P.O. Boxes while working at the Big Sky Post Office. She said she’s a bit rusty now, three months since the independent, contract-operated post office closed for good in July.
Barker worked for the contract post office in Meadow Village for nearly three years and helped in its transition to the newly opened United States Postal Service Big Sky Post Office just a few steps away. The new facility triples the size of its predecessor, spanning 7,500 square feet and containing 4,000 P.O. Boxes for customers—up from 1,661 coveted boxes.
On July 15, the USPS Big Sky Post Office officially opened its doors to the public. The new post office will manage Big Sky’s outgrowing of a decades-old break-even business model, and with that, the usual challenges that come with a major transition.
Barker remembers her experience as the most fun she’s ever had at a job after a career in social work. She stuck around in her mailroom role, along with the rest of her team, beyond the previous February 2023 USPS contract extension to accommodate the federal provider’s progress in opening. When the post office finally closed in July, Barker looked back fondly at her time sorting mail, greeting Big Sky folks and working with the team.
“Times they do change,” Barker said of the transition to a federally run post office in Big Sky. With the changing times comes growing pains, and the USPS is not without its challenges.
On Sept. 19, community member Steve Anderson waited 45 minutes in a three-person line to talk to a customer service representative at the counter. He said he served a decade in the U.S. Naval Forces and it made him think about his time in submarines.
“You’ve heard the expression we’re all in the same boat?” Anderson asked. “This is kind of what it is. It’s like everybody’s having a tough time, but you’re all in the same boat.”
“There’s going to be some growing pains. We had to figure it out for ourselves at the beginning and I made plenty of mistakes early on too.”
Al Malinowski, former contractor with Gallatin Partners for the Big Sky Post Office
Kim Frum, USPS strategic communications specialist for Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington said that the Big Sky Post Office shares staffing struggles that USPS sees at offices nationwide.
“It’s no secret that the Postal Service does have some staffing challenges and it has been for a while,” Frum said. Big Sky is considered a rural post office—the area hosts just under 3,600 year-round residents, but Frum understands the seasonal influx of homeowners and tourists is an important aspect to Big Sky.
“There are some permanent residents, there are some seasonal residents, and then of course you have all the tourists that come and go,” Frum said. In response to wait times in the first couple of months, Frum said staffing is key.
“We serve our community with the best people possible, and, you know, the biggest challenges we have are staffing right now.” Despite this, she highlighted the larger space and USPS’ expansion of P.O. Boxes for customers.
According to Al Malinowski, president of Gallatin Partners, which held the former post office contract since 2001, the private post office location ran out of P.O. Boxes in 2015. While Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” inundated radios in the U.S., Big Sky residents who arrived after the final box was given away were added to a P.O. Box waitlist. Residents without P.O. Boxes had to collect mail during general delivery hours, use their employer’s address or add their name to a friend’s P.O. Box to retrieve mail.
On top of spacing issues, Malinowski said the contract model just wasn’t working. Through the years, he learned that Big Sky’s lopsided pattern of incoming and outgoing mail made the high-end of the model a break-even.
From 2002 to 2022, the contract post office requested and received money from Resort Tax to make ends meet, as USPS could not provide sufficient support. In March 2022, USPS fully funded the Big Sky Post Office. He understands long waits can be frustrating in the transition, but acknowledges that the updated postal capacity was necessary.
“There’s going to be some growing pains,” Malinowski said. “We had to figure it out for ourselves at the beginning and I made plenty of mistakes early on too.”
In the final year of the contract post office, Malinowski credited his team and its leader postmaster Christine Alexander-Bitner for having as good a team as they’d ever had.
“Big Sky customers have treated us with great dignity, patience, and respect, and I appreciate that very much.”
Rhonda Weber, USPS Big Sky Postmaster
Outside the new post office on Sept. 19, local resident Suzanne Chamberlain spoke to EBS about the atmosphere at the old location.
“It was like a community. Like you went in, you knew everybody, everybody talked to everybody so much so that you stuck around for a little while to chat,” Chamberlain said. She’s lived in Big Sky for seven years and works as a controller for an excavation company, which brings her to the new post office daily. In the beginning, Chamberlain said the staff seemed to be overwhelmed.
“I kind of commend them on dealing with it,” Chamberlain said. A newer Big Sky resident of two years, Jackson Hall, said that the day’s service was efficient.
“It’s gotten a lot better over the past month or so,” Hall said, noting that the wait lasted only five to 10 minutes.
Another collector of mail, Raymond Schultz said that things are picking up pace. “You just have to give them a little time,” Schultz said of the USPS team.
Sebastian Cubillos only had a few seconds to talk after his first time visiting the post office. Cubillos is from Colombia and said he appreciated the affordability of mailing services—no complaints.
USPS Postmaster Rhonda Weber heads operations at the Big Sky Post Office. She said that the community has been supportive during the transition.
“We are very grateful for the community support and understanding as we are still sorting some things out. Big Sky customers have treated us with great dignity, patience, and respect, and I appreciate that very much,” Weber said in an email to EBS.
“Opening a brand new office with new systems, organizing the office, and ensuring things run smoothly for both customers and employees can be challenging. So the first few weeks were about sorting out the big issues,” Weber said, noting that things are settling into routine after a few months of being open.
At this time, the post office has volunteers from other offices to get staffing where it needs to be, according to Weber. She encouraged any interested job-seekers to stop by the post office.
“There is a new clerk starting this week and we are looking to hire another one,” Weber said.
For now, P.O. Boxes will be open 24 hours a day and a truck will continue delivering mail and packages at 8 a.m., on a roundtrip route between Gallatin Gateway, Big Sky and West Yellowstone, returning at 3 p.m. to pick up outgoing mail.
EBS did not speak with the BSPO staff while they tended to customers’ needs in business hours. As the post office eases into its third month of operation, a quiet stretch of weeks may be helpful as USPS staff prepares for the holiday season.
