New Barstow postmaster keeps up a family tradition

BARSTOW — Making sure that letters and packages arrive safely in the right mailbox is a family tradition for the Plumas.

Jason Pluma, the newly inaugurated postmaster of the Barstow Post Office, is a second-generation United States Postal Service worker. His father, Edd Pluma, was postmaster in Victorville for more than 20 years, retiring in 2004.

Although Jason had not originally envisioned himself following in Edd’s footsteps, their common career has become a bond between them.

“If we’re not talking about sports or my two sons, we’re probably talking about the Post Office,” Jason said.

Jason’s newly outfitted office at the Barstow Post Office features a prominent reminder of his dad and their common passion for sports — a wooden fireplace replica constructed by Edd in the shape of the New York Yankees stadium.

Jason began working as a clerk in the Hesperia Post Office in 1993 when he was a college student, still unsure what do do with his life. He found that he had a talent for it and what started as a break from college became a career. In 2006, Jason had became a supervisor at the Barstow Post Office. He was promoted to officer-in-charge, a position similar to an interim postmaster, in October 2007 and was made postmaster in March.

The last postmaster of the Barstow office, Paul Lee, left in May 2006 to take a job outside the Postal Service, said USPS spokesman Mike Cannone. Since then, the office has had a series of four officers-in-charge before officials picked Jason Pluma as the new postmaster.

Pluma’s typical day entails working with carriers to make sure their routes get delivered in a timely manner, handling customer questions and complaints and dealing with the Post Office’s ever-shrinking budget. He manages 49 employee and 24 delivery routes, including three at Fort Irwin, he said.

In his years working in the postal service Pluma has seen changes in the industry caused by the rise of the Internet, which has cut the volume of mail delivered around the country. That, along with fuel prices, has meant budget cuts and a struggle to reduce mail routes and staffing. At the same time, technology has increased the efficiency in the industry, with machines now handling daily tasks like mail sorting.

Cannone said that Post Office officials chose Pluma for the postmaster position because of his creative problem-solving and human relations skills. Barstow Post Office employees, who have worked with Pluma since he came in as a supervisor, said they were pleased to see him promoted.

“He has an open door — you can talk to him about anything,” said carrier Janice Wright.

David Hopkins, lead clerk for the Fort Irwin branch of the post office, has known Pluma since they were boys, when they’re fathers worked together at the Hesperia office. He was pleased to see his old friend come to Barstow.

“He has a sense of humor, which is a good aspect,” Hopkins said. “I’ve been here eight years, and he’ll probably be one of the first postmasters with a sense of humor.”

Pluma has had to keep a sense of humor as he encountered odd parcels, from coconuts to loose fishing poles and a single wrapped golf club, and the occasional shipment of illegal drugs.

“Sometimes you’ll get letters that sing or make music, and it really drives you nuts after a couple of hours sorting mail,” Pluma said.

Whatever glitches may come up in the daily chaos of mail sorting and delivery, Pluma said it makes him happy to work for an agency with such an important role in the public’s life.

“That’s something I’m proud to know — that we have that trust from the public,” he said.

Pluma’s inauguration ceremony was held Friday at the Barstow Post Office.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or abby_sewell@link.freedom.com