Longtime postal employee Juli Burns retiring
Juli Burns is retiring after a nearly 37-year career with the U.S. Postal Service. She was the first female postmaster in St. Helena Post Office history. She was named Oakville postmaster in 2018 and remained there until the Postal Service closed that office in June of this year and transferred its operations to Yountville. Photo by Elsa Cavazos
Juli Burns loved her job.
A U.S. Postal Service employee for nearly four decades, Burns has worked six days a week, with no complaints, since 2018.
But when the Oakville Post Office was shut down in June and its operations were transferred to Yountville, she knew her time to retire was at hand.
Her last day on the job is tomorrow.
A Napa native and resident, Burns said her Postal Service career began when she was in her early 20s in Vallejo, where she had a mail delivery walking route. At the time, the gig seemed interesting and fun, but she never thought it would last 37 years.
“I didn’t expect to make a career out of it,” Burns said in an interview this week.
Over time, however, she discovered that it was a job she was truly passionate about.
As time went on, she decided to investigate management positions. She transferred to the Napa Post Office, where she finally drove a vehicle as a carrier.
Then, she became a supervisor in Benicia. During this period of her life, she said, she considered quitting many times because she had three children at home.
But with an arranged schedule to accommodate her needs, she was able to continue working full time.
Later, Burns was promoted, becoming the first female postmaster in St. Helena. She said she was proud of breaking that barrier, having worked hard to earn the position.
As postmaster, she oversaw all operations at the post office and was responsible for the safety of the employees and the community.
“I did so many things with my career,” she said. “I worked in Washington, D.C. for several months, working with consumer and industry affairs. I worked a little bit on our USPS website. I sat with the Postmaster General at the roundtable where we discussed the new postal vehicles, which are finally coming out 13 years later.”
Burns worked in Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Detroit opening call centers. She has taught courses in Maryland, Oakland, and Oklahoma.
But of all the jobs she has had with the Postal Service, she said, she most enjoyed delivering the mail and talking to people she met along the way. She especially enjoyed the latter once she became Oakville’s postmaster.
“I’d never had a position like I did in Oakville where I worked at the counter,” she said. “It was a very small office. But that’s when I actually had the time to be face-to-face with my customers every day and learn from them and get to be friends with them.”
She was so beloved by the Oakville community that residents there threw a party in her honor on Nov. 23. Elizabeth and Patrick O’Dell hosted the event, during which Burns was presented with a congressional proclamation by Rep. Mike Thompson.
“If a package was missing, she would go above and beyond to track it in every way, calling to find out where this package was and checking in with other postmasters in the area,” Elizabeth O’Dell said. “She just went the extra mile in everything she did to make it a good experience. She genuinely cared about all of us.”
Said Burns of the celebration in her honor: “It made me feel very full, it was very heartwarming. Just something I never imagined the community would do.”
Burns described her days at the Oakville Post Office as being filled with one-on-one interactions. She knew by the sound of the voice who was coming in. She took hikes with some of the people she met, and she formed close friendships.
She started the job in 2018, she said, and did not plan to ever leave until the post office closed this year on June 30 – her birthday.
“Maybe it was a good thing because otherwise I would have worked until I was 80,” Burns said. “When I was in Oakville, there was never a day when I didn’t want to go to work.”
During her time at the Yountville Post Office, Burns was reunited with a former protégé. Postmaster Erik Vasquez used to work with her in Napa. He said Burns encouraged him to think about his future and what he wanted to get out of his career.
“Part of my success is because of her. She gave me my big break, my chance. She saw something in me and we’re here and it’s like a big circle,” Vasquez said.
Post-retirement for Burns will involve a lot of beekeeping and visits with children, she said. Burns took up beekeeping as a hobby a few years ago.
Since then, she has been asked to help care for other people’s hives. She also plans to travel to see her children who live in Utah, Alabama, and Virginia.
