Weller is new Custer postmaster

When Carson Weller spent his first Christmas as postmaster at the Custer Post Office this past December, he wasn’t panicked.
No, he had been there before.
Weller, Custer’s newest postmaster, had been in and out of the Custer Post Office as he worked his way up the ranks with the United States Postal Service. He knew what he was getting into.
“It was all good. I knew what to expect,” he said. “It wasn’t like a deer in headlights.”
Weller officially gained the title of postmaster Dec. 14, although he came to the Custer Post Office full time as officer in charge. Previously, he had worked in the Custer Post Office as a clerk when needed.
Only a few short years ago, working for the Postal Service was the furthest thing from Weller’s mind. The Rapid City native lived in Washington with his wife and four children, where he operated a janitorial business for the better part of 15 years. That all changed when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and the state of Washington ground to a halt.
“I pretty much lost all my accounts in one day,” he said. “After about almost six months I decided to hang it up and get a job.”
Weller worked in a grocery store for two years before deciding to move back to Rapid City, where he still lived. He had already thrown his hat into the Postal Service ring, as he was hired to work at Fairburn before he even got back to Rapid City.
Weller initially was going to eventually become a full time clerk in Custer, but soon decided to seek out and become the postmaster at the post office in Scenic. He knew former Custer postmaster Marcia Kenobbie would retire in the not-to-distant future, so he kept his eye on that position, as well.
After working in Scenic for a year, a job he said he maybe saw two people a day come into the post office, he applied for and received the job as Custer postmaster. All this in only three years in working for the Postal Service.
“It’s great. I like it a lot,” Weller said. “I never really thought about doing it. I always wanted to be a clerk. Making that transition though, I thought, ‘this was cool. I’ll do this.’”
The process has been like drinking form a firehose at times, as Weller said working at the post office can be an “information overload.” He is grateful to have people in the field he can rely upon.
As for his duties, Weller said the postmaster oversees operations of the post office, and in this case, at the post offices in the surrounding rural county towns as well. It’s Weller’s job to make sure scans are on time, carriers are on time, bills are paid and the finances are handled. Weller describes himself as a hands-on type, as he likes to get in the mix and help the other workers with their work.
“Technically at this level of post office the postmaster is supposed to ‘watch’ but I like to help out,” he said. “What I like about (the Custer) post office is it’s a family. We are a close knit group of people who are all here to get the job done.”
The faster pace is something he craved after a year in Scenic, saying that post office is “literally crickets.”
“It’s always Christmas here,” he said of the volume of mail that comes through the Custer Post Office.
Weller said he and his family will eventually move closer to Custer, and after a bit of revolving door at the position since longtime postmaster Larry Stalder left, he has no plans to go anywhere any time soon.
“It’s kind of nice to be able to do so much but still have a lot to do and take care of,” he said. “I just love the community. Coming from a larger city it’s nice to see how close and connected the community can be. It’s more family-oriented. I like that.”