Former postmaster reviewing options now that he's retired

After more than 40 years with the U.S. Postal Service, lifelong New Richland area resident Randy Lewer retired on Dec. 31, 2025, finishing 20 years of service as the zip code’s postmaster.

 

The son of farmers Orlin and Ruth, Lewer still operates the small farm northeast of New Richland that has been in his family for more than a century alongside his son Daniel. Randy graduated from New Richland High School in 1976 and, in addition to his work on the farm, took on some part-time jobs.

 

In 1985, he saw an ad in the New Richland Star advertising an open position at the post office. When he responded to indicate his interest, the first step was to take a required test.

 

“And then you waited,” he recalls. After a wait that seemed rather long to the 28-year-old job seeker, he received a letter inviting him to an interview with the postmaster at the time, Tom Baynes.

 

“I still remember what he said when I was hired,” recalls Randy with a laugh. “Congratulations. You’ve just accepted a job that means you’ll work every Saturday for the rest of your life.”

 

In 1985, the staff of the New Richland post office consisted of the postmaster, two part-time clerks, and three route drivers.

 

Though nearly every detail of the job changed over the next four decades, when Randy retired in 2025 the staff list was almost identical–except that there are now only two route drivers. Significantly, though, there are no longer postmasters in Hartland, Geneva, Ellendale and Hope; the Postal Service has made the supervision of those facilities part of the New Richland postmaster’s job.

 

Always while continuing to farm, Randy remained a part-time clerk in New Richland until 2003, when he applied and was selected to be postmaster in Hollandale. In 2005 he moved to the role in Mapleton. In 2006, when the postmaster position opened up in New Richland, he came back to where he started.

 

Across his 40 years with the postal service, Randy says he learned a wide variety of lessons, many of which might be surprising to people outside the industry.

 

For one, “It is not easy to deliver mail in the dark.”

 

He explains that, although his job description did not include being a delivery route driver, he was the postmaster. “And the postmaster is responsible for everything. So if someone else can’t get it done, then you might end up doing it in their place.”

 

He recalls a wide variety of “emergencies” which were also the postmaster’s problem. Back when sending money could not be accomplished using electronic means, he recalls people would often ask him repeatedly when he thought a piece of mail would arrive, and would sometimes vent their frustration on him when they perceived a check was arriving “late.”

 

He mentions one time when an upset patron declared that he and his entire staff deserved to be fired.

 

“You want to do your job well,” he says of the many ‘emergencies’ that occurred over time. “So I would do what I could.” He remembers the box of newly hatched chicks a local resident purchased in the spring that, due to an oversight in a sorting office in the Twin Cities, was delivered to New Richmond, Wisconsin–two years in a row.

 

Both years, Randy drove up to the Twin Cities to retrieve them.

 

“Unexpected things sometimes happen when it comes to the mail,” he recalls. “The vast majority of the letters and the boxes are delivered without a hitch. But sometimes things get caught in a loop or go missing altogether.”

 

Over time, he says doing his job well included tasks most people would assume never happen, including delivering mail on Sunday or holidays.

 

Something else that might surprise a typical post office user is that, for the postmaster, being certain the mail is delivered is only one part of a much more complex set of tasks. 

 

Bookkeeping, ordering stamps, ensuring items are scanned correctly, adapting operations when a member of the team is absent, all demand the postmaster’s attention. Since the position is paid on a salaried basis, extra time is not financially compensated for. Though his expected work hours were all during the week, Randy remembers being in the post office many, many Saturdays–and occasionally spent 14 hours there, regardless of what day of the week it was.

 

Despite the challenges, though, Randy says his recollections of his years as New Richland’s postmaster are almost entirely positive. He says he recognized the important role the post office fills: He was glad to be part of the services it provides and happy that he found ways to be helpful and supportive. 

 

Now that he’s retired, he seems to be weighing his options.

 

“First, I’m catching up on some of that work I didn’t get done around the farm,” he says.

 

After that, he’s considering some hobbies he’s always found appealing but never had time for, including woodworking, metalworking, and a few he chooses not to name until he’s had a chance to try them out. “We’ll see if I have the resources and the talent to do them,” he explains.

 

One hobby he plans to continue and perhaps expand on is his love of singing. A member of the all-male “Just Friends” Christian singers for decades, he says being part of the group enriches his life while also bringing pleasure to others.

 

He also thinks he’d like to travel a bit–although almost entirely in Minnesota and Wisconsin. “There’s a lot to see not so far from home,” he comments.