A veteran West Marin postmaster will retire this week, capping a 29-year career that spanned the Grand Canyon to Stinson Beach. Jim Harvey, who worked in Stinson for the past decade after leaving his post in Point Reyes Station, experienced historic changes in mail delivery and manned the front lines at critical moments. Even on his way into retirement, his depot has been put to the test with the inheritance of Bolinas mail services, which more than doubled the volume at his office.
“We call him the Jedi master. He knew everything he was doing without hesitation, and we were just his Padawans,” said Bolinas Postmaster Roosevelt Sargent, who worked with Mr. Harvey for nearly a decade. “He’s very organized and prepared each day. It looks like an easy job, but when you are the postmaster, you have the weight of the city on your shoulders. James Harvey was the name you’d hear and know that the incoming regime was set up correctly.”
Mr. Harvey experienced one of the greatest changes to the postal service: the transition from analog to digital sorting mechanisms. He watched as the number of mailed letters dropped precipitously with the growth of online communication, and as the number of packages grew with the explosion of Amazon in the last decade. From retail computers holding floppy disks with four-megabyte hard drives to networked computers, the industry is nothing like it used to be.
Mr. Harvey grew up in Mill Valley in the 1970s and bounced around the county as a young adult. No matter where he moved, he felt most at home on the trails of Mount Tamalpais with his mountain bike. After attending San Francisco State University, he met his future wife, Schuyler. The couple had their first child in the early ‘90s and sought a change of scenery and an escape from the social bubble of Central Marin. Jim applied for an entry-level position that sounded as secure as it did romantic: postal clerk for the Grand Canyon Post Office.
The small outpost sat on the edge of the canyon’s rim, its clientele consisting of locals—mostly park service workers—and the hordes of postcard-wielding tourists that came in during the warm months.
“Each day I’d go have my lunch and sit on the flagstone overlooking the canyon,” he said. “It was always really incredible.”
At the time, postal workers sorted mail by hand, so Mr. Harvey and his team sorted each postcard, letter and parcel that went through the office.
After their second child, the family moved to Novato in 1996. Mr. Harvey worked as a clerk for the Point Reyes Station Post Office but soon acted as a relief postmaster, managing numerous offices across Marin and Sonoma Counties. He was a versatile and trusted worker, preparing for each shift carefully. “I was really trying to climb the ladder at that point and just go wherever the need was,” he said.
Mr. Harvey’s adaptability and experience landed him his first postmaster position at the San Geronimo office in 1998. Three years later, he was back in Point Reyes, serving as postmaster but still filling in at offices across the North Bay. He’s trained countless postmasters and clerks and learned every nook and cranny of West Marin’s 10 offices.
“Each [office is] unique in its own charming and interesting way,” he said. “I don’t want to upset my Stinson people, but my heart is in Point Reyes—having been there for all those years. When I was in Point Reyes, I had my finger on the pulse, sending workers when needed and understanding the ins and outs of each office. But to serve all these communities over the years, it’s been a fulfilling and wonderful experience. I’ve made some great relationships, which, to me, is what the workday is all about.”
By 2012, Mr. Harvey’s ladder-climbing days were largely over. He was living in Mill Valley again, his kids had gone off to college and he was looking for an easier commute and more free time. Working in Stinson Beach cut his commute in half. Cendon Wood, the current postmaster in San Quentin, took over the position from him in Point Reyes.
“He was a mentor to me when I was young and hadn’t worked as a postmaster for very long,” Mr. Wood said. “We take a yearly survey for our jobs and one of the questions is, ‘Do you have a best friend at work?’ I never understood the question until recently—the answer was Jim.”
In 2015, Mr. Harvey and the Stinson Beach Post Office were put to the test when a customer came into the post office forewarning of a strange development.
“You’re going to get a little uptick in letter volume these next few weeks,” the man told Mr. Harvey.
The Grateful Dead was holding their Fare Thee Well tour and mail-order tickets were first-come, first-served—and had to be mailed into the Stinson Beach Post Office for processing. (The band had started its mail order service at Stinson’s office in the ‘80s.) Around 60,000 parcels came in.
“Next thing I know, we’re getting inundated with about six months’ worth of letters in two weeks,” Mr. Harvey said. “Each one was uniquely decorated and drawn on. It was mayhem, but it was one of the most amazing moments I’ve had in the mailroom. The volume and the uniqueness—we were getting calls from postmasters around the country asking why everyone was in line buying money orders to send to Stinson Beach.”
After the deadhead frenzy, he and his team thought they had seen it all. Then the Bolinas Post Office lost its rental in February after a dispute with its landlord. Foot traffic and mail volume doubled in Stinson Beach. As the Light attempted to take a photograph of Mr. Harvey last week, he and his staff were waylaid by a line that stretched out the door.
“It’s been very apparent—especially recently with what’s going on with Bolinas—how vital the postal service is to a community,” Mr. Harvey said. “We all know West Marin is unique. Every community here has its own uniqueness, and I would say that what I have loved about being in these offices is seeing the beauty and joy that people have shared in their community. Everyone knows their neighbors and what’s going on with each other.”
On the eve of his retirement, Mr. Harvey said he’s looking forward to spending more time with his wife but that he has no intentions of slowing down.
“I don’t want to give too much away, but I’m looking to prove to myself that I can create a new path,” he said. “It’s kind of a challenge for myself.”