Christa Kopp, Kremmling and Parshall’s new Postmaster, has handled the Christmas scene with ease after experiencing the hustle and bustle of the busy Silverthorne/Dillon post office for the past four years.
“I am grateful to have landed here in Kremmling. My commute to work is now just 15 minutes and I love the community,” Kopp says.
She grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and began her post office career there 20 years ago.
She was familiar with the Kremmling area, because she had often visited Colorado and traveled through Grand County on skiing trips. She purchased a home in Spring Creek and made the move with her toy poodle, Noodles.
Two years ago, her son-in-law Jason, flew in from Ohio to work on her home and decided to stay. He and Kopp’s oldest daughter Brittany, now live in Kremmling.
As a skier, snowshoe enthusiast, hiker and a self-proclaimed rock-hound nut, Kopp has enjoyed all the Kremmling area has to offer and has enjoyed getting to know more of the people and volunteering at Chamber events.
She also enjoys getting to know her customers, “Kremmling is less transient than the Dillon/ Silverthorne area. During ski season, there is a lot of change over in post office boxes. Here they are more constant, similar to my hometown.”
Throughout her two decades in the postal service, Kopp has seen many changes. The post offices are more automated, parcel volume has exploded, and letters to friends and family are almost non-existent, as less and less people use letters for correspondence.
“I wish more people still wrote letters. I treasure the letters my mother wrote to me. She passed two years ago, and I still have them,” she said of the art of writing letters.
Postal contracts with Amazon, UPS and Fed Ex also help keep her office busy. “We receive a truck daily from the above contractors, in addition to our product from the Denver plant, and have to staff the post office seven days a week during the month of December,” said Kopp who says the partnerships have helped the United States Postal Service stay afloat.
Her biggest advice for sending packages is to include the name and address on the inside of the package. “With more and more automation, there is a bigger chance packages can be damaged and this will ensure we can still get the package to them. Also plan ahead, always mail packages as early as you can,” she adds from experience.
She also comments helpfully, “For receiving packages, the biggest issue we have is the addressing of parcels. Most companies will not allow you to ship to a post office box, to work around this, add your Post office box number AFTER the zip, 80459-9998, as an example. If this does not work try and get it on there somewhere, even after your name. If you receive an e-mail stating your package cannot be delivered and is being returned, call us! We’ll locate it and get it to your PO box.”
This Christmas, Kopp will be spending the holidays at home with her companion, Paul, daughter and son-inlaw, Brittany and Jason, and her daughter and granddaughter from Ohio, Kristina and Stella.
In the New Year, she looks forward to getting out in the snow and enjoying all the beauty the Rocky Mountains have to offer!
