T-burg Postmaster Gatch to retire after 30 years

Trumansburg Postmaster Tim Gatch will retire this week after 30 years of serving the community. His last day on the job is May 28.

Gatch started his career as a city mail carrier in 1991 in Ithaca, where he later moved up to delivery supervisor. In 2004, he became the postmaster of Interlaken and then finished his career with a nine-year stint as the postmaster in T-burg, his hometown.

“Growing up in this area, I knew a lot of people, and there’s a great satisfaction in helping those people,” Gatch said. “In Ithaca, it wasn’t as easy to help people because there was so much going on, but in Trumansburg, you can do a lot.”

Gatch said his favorite part of his career has been the customer service, especially the moments he’s been able to assist someone, no matter how small the problem.

“People’s mail really matters to them,” Gatch said. “If someone’s not getting their mail, and you help them, there’s a lot of happy people.”
Gatch is the second postmaster in his family — his father worked in the service for more than 40 years and retired as the postmaster in Ithaca.

“He always said the postal service was a good place to work and provide a good living for your family,” Gatch said of his father. “That’s how I got started, and it’s provided a good living for myself and my family.”

The postal service has changed greatly over the last three decades, and Gatch said the automation of mail has had the greatest effect on day-to-day operations. He remembers sorting letters, large envelopes and packages by hand back in the ’90s, all of which is mostly done by machines now.

“With automation, it does make your job easier,” Gatch said. “But with automation comes budget cuts.”

With a smaller budget to pay employees, it makes things hard on a small office, especially when it comes to another new trend in the mail industry: a rise in the number of packages being sent.

“A route used to have probably 20 to 30 packages a day, and right now, I don’t know if we have a day where we’re under 100 packages per route,” Gatch said. “Mondays, we’re over 300 packages per route, and during Christmas, we have days that we’re over 500.”

Gatch noted that the higher-than-average number of packages coming through the office during COVID-19 was manageable for them, but the processing plants above them became a bottleneck. Due to budget cuts and social distancing mandates, mail got backed up.

Since the office is small, Gatch said he has the flexibility to help out when needed. The postmaster’s role is to oversee the operations of the office, which mainly includes admin work, but he often helps sort mail and fills in at the office counter. He also lends a hand in delivering mail on Mondays, a very heavy Amazon package day.

“We used to rely on packages taking two to three days,” Gatch said. “There was a period shortly after Christmas where packages were taking up to a month to get delivered. That’s hard for us. We like seeing things delivered on time and providing great customer service. We didn’t have an answer for somebody who asked us what’s happening.”

Gatch said that as of May, things are still taking longer to get delivered than before COVID-19, but wait times have been decreasing.

In March of this year, the newly appointed U.S. postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, announced a 10-year reorganization plan for the postal service. Because of this, there has been a hiring freeze for positions like the one about to open up at T-burg.

It’s not clear when the postmaster position at T-burg will be posted, but in the meantime, a part-time employee from Gatch’s team will be stepping up to fill in.

Tabatha Tesori started working for the postal service when she was 19 years old and has spent the last seven years moving up the ranks. She’s worked under Gatch for the last four and will take over as officer in charge when he leaves, absorbing most of his duties for the time being.

Tesori said she will definitely apply for the job when it’s officially posted.

“I love the people,” Tesori said. “Our customers are really great, they’re very friendly, and it’s a small community, so you get to know everybody. It’s been really nice. I couldn’t have asked for a better office to be in.”

She credits much of her success in her role to Gatch and his exemplary leadership and support.

“Considering where I started to where I am now, he’s really helped me learn more about the post office,” Tesori said. “He’s given me more responsibilities. Where I was before didn’t really have that opportunity. It was a very small office. He’s really great at training everybody and making sure everybody knows what is expected.”

Gatch said that his immediate plans for retirement are to build a new house for him and his wife, Debbie. He’s put in 30 years of work for this community but is still quite humble about his career.

“I don’t have a lot of big stories,” he said. “But I have a lot of small stories of helping people locate packages or fix problems with their mail forwarding. My career has been very rewarding.”

In Brief:

Ulysses Philomathic Library presents The Great & Powerful Dave

On June 3 at 5 p.m., David Moreland, who has visited the library many times as Moreland the Magician, is now The Great & Powerful Dave and will be performing a high-energy, 30-minute live show via Zoom.

Dave will perform a show especially for patrons of the Ulysses Philomathic Library from his studio in New York City. Viewers can tune in and interact via a computer screen at home. The show is bursting with magic, comedy, puppets, and — YES! — audience participation and opportunities to volunteer!

During the show, The Great & Powerful Dave will take viewers behind the scenes, teach magic tricks to be performed at home and show everyone how to keep connected to the Ulysses Philomathic Library all summer long!

Recommended for ages 4 to 10, but children of all ages are welcome. Register at www.trumansburglibrary.org.