Antieau retires after 20 years in postal service

Those who frequent the Cornell Post Office may notice a familiar face is no longer there.

Renee Antieau retired from the postmaster position May 29, after over 20 years with the system.

“I started with the post office Jan. 1, 2000,” said Antieau. “I’ve been in Cornell about six years, close to seven.”

Prior to working in Cornell, Antieau worked in New Auburn, the Eau Claire processing plant, Barron, Shell Lake and Birchwood.

“During the time I’ve been with the post office, I’ve worked with quite a few different offices and in pretty much all of them, I had really nice people to work with,” said Antieau.

She says the great crews she worked with made the job easy.

During her time in Cornell, Antieau was also responsible for day-to-day things, such as working the window and sorting the mail. As part of her duties, Antieau also had to check the Holcombe, Sheldon and Conrath offices, to make sure they are staffed and everything is going well for them, too.

Antieau says there have been a number of changes in the postal system over the past 20 years. She says the biggest change she’s seen, is the addition of the postal service delivering Amazon packages.

“On a heavy Amazon day, just in Cornell alone, we deliver probably 450 packages,” said Antieau. “We don’t have a day anymore where it’s under 250.”

Along with the increase in people ordering online, Antieau says she has also seen a decrease in letter mail over the years.

“The letter mail keeps going down and the package mail keeps going up,” said Antieau.

Come fall, Antieau says she may look for a part-time job to keep busy, but is looking forward to retirement in the meantime. She says she plans to take advantage of living on the lake in Chetek, by doing a lot of pontooning over the summer. Other than that, she says she is hoping to golf, and catch up on a long list of yard work and gardening duties.

Antieau says she enjoyed her time working at the Cornell Post Office, though not the drive.

“I’m looking forward to having some free time to get some of those things going,” said Antieau.

Antieau says they don’t know who her replacement at the post office will be yet, but should hear soon.