Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Lisa Cantafio officially became the first female Postmaster of Caribou last week.
“Lisa was selected for this position through a merit process and brings a wealth of experience to the position,” said Susan Mills, manager of Postal Operations, during her Nov. 6 speech.
Aroostook Republican photo by N. Bazinet
Lisa Cantafio (right), is sworn in as the new Postmaster of Caribou. Catafio’s daughter, Melissa held the Bible while her mother recited her oath.
“I am very proud to have been promoted to Postmaster because I believe that serving your community every day in such a tangible way is a high calling for anyone in this country,” said Cantafio, “It’s very rewarding to be trusted with such an awesome responsibility after putting in a lot of hard work.”
The responsibilities of her job include, among other things, receiving, processing, and delivering mail to approximately 8,312 residents here in Caribou. Cantafio is now also responsible for 22 postal employees and ensuring that the residents of Caribou receive their mail six days a week through one of the 1,218 post office boxes, 2,843 city deliveries, or 1,947 possible rural deliveries.
“Service for our customers is my number-one priority,” said Cantafio, “Keeping my customers satisfied and my employees happy go hand-in-hand.”
Cantafio first started with the Postal Service when she accepted a part-time position with the Limestone Post Office seven years ago.
Back then, she was hired by now-retired Limestone Postmaster, Clifford Pelletier.
“I knew her qualities,” Pelletier said, “She’s a person who works with a group, and that’s what we like in the Postal Service.”
For Cantafio to become a Postmaster after being employeed by the USPS for only seven years is a great accomplishment.
“She’s done so well so fast,” said Dale Nason, lay minister from the Christ Gospel Church in Presque Isle and Cantafio’s former co-worker at the Caribou Post Office, “I’m really pleased for her.”
“Our Postmaster jobs are highly prized,” said Mills, “there is an intense competition for each one of these treasured positions. Lisa has demonstrated through hard work and dedication that she possesses the qualities that the Postal Service looks for and, more important, the qualities that the citizens of Caribou look for.”
“In my opinion,” said Mills, “the hardest part of being a postmaster is trying to manage in an ever changing environment. Work loads change, expectations change, staffing changes, the mail make-up changes, summer to winter certainly changes — a Postmaster must manage effectively even with all of these changes going on.”
Cantafio’s personal goal as the new Postmaster of Caribou is to provide residents of Caribou, Woodland, and Connor with prompt, courteous, and reliable customer service.
“She’ll make an excellent Postmaster,” said Nason, “She has a winning personality and she will be great.”
“My family is very supportive of me in my new position,” Cantafio stated, “they’ve supported me ever since I joined the Postal Service and they’ve seen how much time and energy it takes to succeed in the job. The hours will be long and I will face challenges daily, but all of us are looking forward to me having a successful career.”
